And Father, as we now come to your Word, we thank you for your Word. And we ask that you would feed us with your Word, that you would nourish our souls with your Word, that you would transform our minds and renew our minds. through your Word. We ask that we would see our desperate need for Christ. We pray that we would hear the voice of our Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking to us and ministering to us as we study Your Word. And we pray that You would use this time to sanctify us, to strengthen our faith, to fill us with faith, and to grow us in Christ's likeness. We pray these things in the name of Jesus for His glory. Amen. Well, if you have your Bibles with you today, please turn to John chapter 18. We're in John chapter 18 today. We'll be looking at verses 28 to 38. Verses 28 to 38 as we continue our study in the book of John. Before you know it, we're gonna be done with this book. I didn't say that five years ago. It was four years ago when we started, but I warned you guys that this would be a study that would be three to five years. And we're gonna be on the long side of that. But today as we continue in our study of John, I think it will be a blessing to you. I pray that it will strengthen and edify you and that it will fill you with faith that you would look to Jesus. For those of us who have been watching what has happened to Western civilization over the past, I don't know, 20 or 30 years, of which, yes, America is a part. We are Western civilization, so is most of Europe. But it's quite apparent to many of us that the foundations of society are in the process of completely eroding away, if they haven't completely eroded away already. For many of us, it feels as if our country has been the best country in the world, that we've ruled the world, so to speak, for a long time, which makes it all the more difficult to watch as the foundations crumble. But America's reign as the most powerful government on the face of the earth has really been very short-lived in comparison to governments like the Roman Empire, for example, which stood unparalleled and uncontested as the government, the biggest government in the world, the strongest government in the world for a thousand years, definitely the most powerful empire in the world. And yet, After a thousand years of being the biggest, most powerful government in the world, it fell to the Germanic tribes in the year 410 AD. And one of the people who witnessed that in 410 AD, who witnessed the complete collapse of the Roman Empire, was the man that we refer to as Saint Augustine. Augustine is in Florida. Saint Augustine is the saint, just so you know. But he is still well known and widely recognized as a great author. He wrote a book called Confessions. That's probably his most popular book. It's still widely read. But in year 413 AD, so three years after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Augustine also began writing a book called The City of God. It took him 13 years to finish it, and if you ever see the size of it, you'll understand why. But it was almost immediately regarded as a classic work. And it's really broken down into two parts. In the first part of the book, Augustine responded to the common accusation that Rome fell because of the Christians. That was what everybody was saying, that Rome fell because of the Christians. Yes, just like the Christians have been blamed for all of society's ills by Nero over 300 years prior, and just like today a lot of people are blaming Christians for all kinds of stuff. But Augustine responded by arguing that Rome had fallen not because the Christians had refused to bow to the Roman pagan gods and idols, but that Rome had fallen because the sins of the Roman Empire had reached such an extreme point that it was necessary that God punish her for her sins. That should sound very familiar as you watch the moral foundations of our culture crumble. So that's the first part of the book. In the second part of the book, Augustine explained history from a biblical perspective as two coexisting rival cities or kingdoms living side by side. He wrote that, quote, two cities have been formed by two loves, the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God, the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self, end quote. So the city of God in this classic work is the church, it's the elect, it's those who were chosen from eternity past by God. And it is this city, the city of God, God's kingdom, which is destined to rule the world in this book. The earthly city is obviously then the world, exemplified by Babylon in ancient times and by Rome in the more immediate past for Saint Augustine. For us it might be the United States. But the earthly city or the city of man, he wrote, is destined to fail and fall. He wrote that, quote, "...the city of man seeks the praise of men, whereas the height of glory for the other is to hear God in the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own boasting, the other says to God, Thou art my glory, Thou liftest up my head." End quote. So what Augustine wrote in contrasting these two cities, these two kingdoms, it's very important for Christians in any time to understand, especially in a time like this where we see the foundations of our own culture crumbling. Because his work was really, it was a timeless work. Christians are always and always have been living in two kingdoms. We live in the city of man, we live in the earthly city, but we also live in the city of God. Very similar to what Paul wrote to the Philippians when he wrote of how our citizenship is in heaven. Even though if you, read about Paul in Acts, you know that he appealed to his earthly citizenship when he stood before the authorities. So this idea that there are two cities or two kingdoms is a very biblical concept. And there are many times throughout Scripture when these two kingdoms kind of clash, when they come into conflict with one another. And if you think about it, that's really inevitable, because they are so different in so many very important ways. They're different in terms of their values. They're different in terms of what they view as their source of authority. And that's just for starters. That's just the tip of the iceberg. But the first instance of these two kingdoms colliding, coming into conflict, would be when Cain murdered his brother Abel. But the most important and the most revealing exchange between these two kingdoms took place when Jesus stood on trial before Pontius Pilate. Now our previous passage that's brought us to this point today in John's Gospel showed us that Jesus stood trial, kind of a preliminary trial before Annas, who then sent Jesus off to stand before Annas' son-in-law Caiaphas, All the events that took place between Jesus' preliminary trial before Annas and his trial before Pontius Pilate, however, are left out by John. He just omitted them for one reason or another. It seems that he just would have assumed that if we wanted to learn about what happened, we could read about that in the other Gospels, but that he was not an eyewitness to those things at Caiaphas's, before Caiaphas, so he didn't write about them. He was there at Annas's place. So that seems to be the reason that he would have omitted it. But those details are included in the other gospel narratives. The things that happened between standing before Annas and standing before Pilate are recorded in Matthew, for example. We read in Matthew chapter 26, he tells us that those who had seized Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. And he goes on to say, now the chief priests and the whole council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus so that they might put Him to death. Verse 60, they did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on, two came forward and said, this man stated, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. The high priest stood up and said to him, "'Do you not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against you?' But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to him, "'I adjure you by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.' Jesus said to him, You have said it yourself. Nevertheless, I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Verse 65, Then the high priest tore his robes and said, He has blasphemed. What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy. What do you think? They answered, He deserves death. So that's what happened between Annas and Pilate. Then we read in Matthew 27 verses 1 and 2, now when morning came all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put him to death and they bound him and they led him away and delivered him to Pilate the governor. So there you go, that kind of fills in that gap for us. Jesus has been found guilty by this Jewish counsel of blasphemy, which is a crime that warrants capital punishment under Jewish law. But Israel was occupied by the Roman Empire at the time, which forbade that they execute anyone on their own. So, in order for this death sentence to be carried out, Jesus would have to stand trial again, a second time. Once before the Jews, and now once before Pontius Pilate. And that brings us to where our passage today picks up. And the point of our passage today is that while each one of us lives in two cities, two kingdoms, we can only serve one master. The kingdoms of this world will fall in time, but Jesus reigns supreme as king over a kingdom that will never and can never be shaken. Therefore, we must choose wisely which kingdom will receive our highest loyalty and devotion. So our text continues. We'll start with verses 28 to 32. Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the praetorium, and it was early. And they themselves did not enter into the praetorium, so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, What accusation do you bring against this man? They answered and said to him, If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him to you. So Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and judge him according to your law, Jesus which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he was about to die. Now the Romans. were known for having the best criminal justice system on earth. In fact, to this day, that is something that they are known for, they're remembered for. Much of our own criminal justice system was derived from Rome's justice system. Even the Germans who conquered the Roman Empire adopted the Roman laws and their justice system. So their justice system was very good. It's not difficult to understand though. why Jesus was wrongly and illegally and unjustly found guilty of blasphemy before the Jews. We can understand why he was found guilty before the Jews. The animosity between the Jewish leaders and our Lord, that tension had been growing and escalating for a long, long time, and it just finally reached a boiling point where something had to happen. Those leaders, the Jewish leaders, hated Jesus because Jesus had revealed their faithlessness. Jesus had exposed their sin for everyone and anyone to see. But understanding how Pilate ends up sending Jesus off to die is very different. Understanding how the Jews found Jesus guilty is very easy. It's not easy to understand why Pilate does, because he doesn't have this history with Jesus with escalating tension, right? In fact, he doesn't seem to know anything at all about Jesus as Jesus has brought to him. So he certainly doesn't feel like he's threatened by Jesus in any way. But all that to say that Pilate doesn't have a proverbial dog in this race. And so what we're going to see is that he would acquit Jesus, but would nevertheless ultimately turn Jesus over to be crucified, which is kind of confusing. The trial before the Jews, therefore, is much easier to understand than Jesus' trial before Pilate was. We recently studied, in Psalm 50, a psalm about worship that offends God, in which God calls His people to examine their worship, and He warns us about two types of worship that He not only doesn't accept, but that He is greatly, greatly offended by. First of all, He is offended by the worship of those who mistake their rituals for righteousness. That is, for those who are just kind of checklist Christians, so to speak. You know, they've got this list of things that they are supposed to do. They pray every day. They pray before every meal. They pray before bed. They go to church. Maybe they read their Bible, and they kind of just feel like, you know, as long as I go through these motions, I'm good. You know, my relationship with God is good, regardless of what's going on in my heart. As long as I go through these motions, God will be pleased. That's not true. God is not pleased by us just going through the motions. That's the first thing that we learned in Psalm 50. That doesn't please Him at all. But the second type of worship that offends God is hypocritical worship. Worship that's offered by somebody whose life is marked by a pattern of continually sinning, unrepentant sin, and self-indulgence, as if God never cared if we are actually obedient or not. That's the type of person who says, God's going to give me grace anyway, so I may as well just do it one more time, or whatever that may be. But we see both of these problems in the Jewish religious leaders as they come before Pilate here, don't we? We're told in verse 28 that they didn't want to enter into the praetorium, they didn't want to enter into the chambers of Pilate, because doing so would defile them, and they wouldn't be able to eat the Passover meal. Which is really funny, because just five minutes ago, all of a sudden, they're so concerned about not being defiled, because just five minutes ago they carried out the greatest act of injustice in all of human history by sentencing Jesus to death after conducting a trial that was illegal in so many ways. They didn't feel defiled by that, but they think that they'll be defiled by entering into Pontius Pilate's chambers? It's almost comical, but that's the hypocritical worship that God was talking about in Psalm 50, a worship that they offer that he doesn't accept. These are people who are hypocrites, who are as inwardly filthy and defiled as a public port-a-potty, and yet they think that they are ritually pure and clean by virtue of where their feet do and don't go. It's comical, but it's a real thing that happens with people. And so let us be warned of our tendency to do that. Because professing Christians do this same thing all the time. We're tempted to either dirty our hearts with our sin and then imagine that we're justified by grace through works of supposed righteousness, or to live lawlessly, confident that God's grace is gonna cover it. So thinking to ourselves, eh, what's one more sin? J.C. Ryle says of this tendency, he says this, he says, quote, A religion that makes a man neglect the weightier matters of daily holiness and separation from the world and concentrate his whole attention on forms, sacraments, ceremonies, and public services is, to say the least, very suspicious. It may be accompanied by immense zeal and show of earnestness, but it is not sound in the sight of God." So the Pharisees didn't want to defile themselves outwardly, but they neglected to keep themselves pure inwardly. They neglected to tend to the issues of what was going on within their hearts. Friends, let that never, ever, ever be said of you. Because that kind of faith is a worthless and vain faith. That type of faith is a faith that will not save. Now, a Roman trial would have four steps. First, it would have an indictment, then an examination, then the defense of the accused, and finally, number four, the final rendering of the verdict. When Pilate goes out to them and asks them, what accusation do you bring against this man? He is initiating that very first step, indictment, which involves the announcement of all the formal charges against the accused. But what's interesting is, as we continue reading the passage, we see that the Jewish leaders are surprised that Pilate is taking this first step. So they respond by saying, if this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him to you. Well, that doesn't exactly answer the question, does it? When he asks, what charges do you bring against this man? They don't give him an answer. In other words, their answer is basically just find this criminal guilty already. We've found him guilty and that's why he stands before you. So what this seems to suggest is that the Jewish leaders really, and we already knew this, but this just kind of confirms that they really have no interest injustice being served. They weren't hoping for Jesus to stand trial before Pilate. They just wanted Pilate's consent to carry out the execution of Christ. They knew that justice could only get in the way of their plans being carried out. And so for that reason, they just evade the question. They just duck. They don't answer the question. They just demand compliance from Pilate. And so what Pilate does next is surprising. He responds very fairly, instructing them to just, okay, take him yourselves and deal with him yourselves then. The reason that this is surprising is that secular historians from that era reveal that Pilate was not a man who cared about justice. In fact, he was very unjust. He was a man of political expediency, you might say, just like most if not all other politicians. Pilate was just a politician, but he was particularly arrogant, and he was often extremely, extremely cruel. Luke chapter 13 verse 1, Luke tells us that Pilate had mixed the blood of Galileans with the sacrifices of the Jews. Now we don't know exactly what that means or what all that entails. We don't know exactly what happened, but what that reveals is that Pilate attacked some Galileans, probably Jewish Galileans, while they were worshiping, and he killed them, spilling their blood while they were offering their sacrifices unto God. So Pilate was ruthless. Pilate was a very cruel and unjust man. He was very unprincipled, you might say. And yet, here he is, refusing to go along with the demands of the Jewish leaders, and he's serving justice rightly. Now, why would he do that? I think the best explanation for why he did that is because his wife warned him earlier on in the day that she had had a dream about Jesus giving them trouble and that he should just keep his hands clean. And the Romans were very known for being extremely superstitious with their dreams. So when Jesus comes before him, Pilate is already being very cautious. So he doesn't fold to the demands of the Jewish leaders. He actually does what he's supposed to do. He initiates this hearing. John tells us that they responded by simply noting that they didn't have the authority to carry out the execution on their own. The Roman Empire didn't allow them to do that. John simply focused on what their intended goal was. But Luke actually tells us what the full accusation against Jesus was. In Luke 23, verse 2, we read the full accusation. They say, We found this man misleading our nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. Now there are three charges there that they have leveled against Jesus. And two of them are just outright lies. He's accused of misleading the nation. No, he's actually been the one who's been leading them in the right direction. So that one's false. He's accused of forbidding that they pay taxes to Caesar. We know that that too is false. What Jesus said when they tried to trap Him with that issue about paying taxes was, render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and render unto God what is God's. So that one is also false. The third accusation is that Jesus claimed to be Messiah, the Christ. Which is true, but it's not punishable by death under Roman law. It is under Jewish law, but it's not under Roman law. So they had to add some things to it that would result in his execution. Now, if we remember Jesus' trial before the Jews, we know that he was only accused of the third charge, of claiming to be the Messiah, of claiming to be God incarnate, which is blasphemy under Jewish law. But under Roman law, that was not punishable by death, but being an insurrectionist was. And so they'd have to make up these bogus charges against Jesus on the spot in order that he would be put to death. But what a surprise it might be to some people to see that the reason John tells us that they said this is so that Jesus would die in the manner that he had foretold. That explains why they said this. What this tells us is that God ordains every word that is spoken. Why did the Jews make this accusation toward Jesus? Because God ordained that they would. They spoke it because God is sovereign over all things. He's ordained it, but He does not cause sin. There's that tension. If God ordains everything, does He cause sin? Absolutely not. He just leads us to our own devices, and that's what we do by ourselves. So God ordained that they would speak this. They spoke it because God is sovereign over all things, including the very words that come out of people's mouths. They spoke it because it was necessary that Jesus' word be fulfilled. But the charge that Jesus claimed to be a king, claimed to be Messiah, the king, was worthy of Pilate's investigation because the Roman Empire was very conscious about intruders, about people coming in kind of undercover. against foreign kings infiltrating their land and subverting their nation secretly. And so now Pilate is forced to ask some probing questions of Jesus. And this brings us to the second part of the trial, the examination. Let's continue in verses 33 to 38. Therefore Pilate entered again into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me? Pilate answered, I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm. Therefore Pilate said to him, So you are a king. Jesus answered you say correctly that I am a king for this I have been born and for this I have come into the world to testify to the truth Everyone who is of the truth. Here's 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 guilt in him So Pilate summons Jesus to come speak with him in the chambers in order that he may ascertain whether or not the charges raised against Jesus are true or false. Now to give credit where credit is due, again Pilate seems for all intents and purposes to be treating Jesus Very fairly. He didn't accept the charges on the word of the Jewish leaders alone. He actually takes the time to investigate. He's going through what we would call due process. So he starts out by asking a question that actually each one of the four Gospels records Pilate as having asked. He asks, are you the king of the Jews? This is the charge that seems to have been the most serious in Pilate's mind. He doesn't interrogate Jesus on the charges of subverting the nation or of forbidding the paying of taxes unto Caesar. Also, he doesn't ask if Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. He kind of skips over that word. The word that stood out in his mind is King. It seems that the charge of claiming to be a king is what Pilate found troubling, because that could be a very serious problem, because it would mean that Jesus was trying to overthrow Caesar, or was at least attempting to claim to have an authority that was equal to Caesar. And Jesus' reply to this, are you the king of the Jews? His reply is, Brilliant. He's always one step ahead of everybody else. Instead of answering this question directly, he answers the question with a question. He says, are you saying this on your own initiative or did others tell you about me? Now, let's be clear about just this much. Jesus is not evading the question. He's clarifying. He's asking Pilate, essentially, what sense he's speaking in, what sense he means this in. In other words, was Pilate asking from a purely physical, Roman worldly perspective, or was he asking from a spiritual perspective? Was he asking from the perspective of a Roman who was a pagan, or from the perspective of the Jews, which would have been spiritual. Now from a worldly perspective, from the Roman perspective, the answer would be that no, Jesus was not trying to overthrow Caesar or anything of the sort. He was not an earthly king. But from the Jewish perspective, from a spiritual perspective, it was completely true that Jesus is the Messiah, and the Jews knew that the Messiah was to reign on David's throne, which meant that he would be king. Now Pilate understands that this is what Jesus is trying to clarify. This is what Jesus is asking. Which sense Pilate is asking this question. And thus Pilate attempts to simply get down to the heart of the matter, saying to Jesus, I am not a Jew, am I? So that answers the question. He says, your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done? Now that gets to the heart of the issue. That cuts right to the chase. Pilate's response is to emphasize that he is asking only from a Roman, worldly, physical perspective. He's not a Jew, he's not interested in the Jewish religion, and so he's not asking from a Jewish perspective. That's why he says, I'm not a Jew, am I? So by asking, what have you done? He's trying to just get to the heart of the matter. Is this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is this man a threat to Caesar in any way, shape or form as somebody who claims to be a king would be? And Jesus responds with what is undoubtedly one of the most important statements that Scripture gives us about this other kingdom. The kingdom over which Christ does reign. Not the worldly kingdom. but the heavenly kingdom, not the worldly city, the earthly city, but the heavenly city, the city of God. He lays Pilate's concerns to rest, assuring Pilate that he is not a threat to Caesar, at least he's not a threat in the physical sense as the Romans would have viewed a threat. But Jesus affirms that he is however a king. He says this, he says, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm. In other words, the physical realm. Jesus' point is that, yes, he is a king. Not that he will be a king, but that he is a king. Not that he will have a kingdom, but that he has a kingdom. It's not the kind of kingdom, however, that Pilate is going to understand. It's not the kind of kingdom that the Jews were even expecting either. Pilate's asking about a worldly kingdom, and that's what the Jews had been expecting from the Messiah, was a worldly kingdom. They were expecting the kind of kingdom that Pilate is worried about, an earthly kingdom. But Jesus is saying, in what seems like just crystal clear language here, that his kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. It is a spiritual kingdom. Now this is something that even confused Jesus' own disciples. If we know how the book of Acts starts, even after Jesus was resurrected and was with them for 40 days, their final question to Jesus before Jesus ascended into heaven, where he would reign over his kingdom from the right hand of the Father, was this. They asked, Lord, is it at this time that you're restoring the kingdom to Israel? They're thinking the same way that Pilate is. Still, they're talking about an earthly kingdom. But Jesus redirects them and He assures them that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And He says to them, you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest parts of the earth. That's what we read in Acts 1, v. 6 and v. 8. And so with all that in mind, The fact that Jesus says, yes, I'm a king, but no, I'm not the king of a worldly kingdom. I find something very interesting. I find it interesting that there are so many Christians waiting for Jesus to return so that He can establish an earthly kingdom. When He's made it pretty clear here, I think, that His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. Now, you guys know what I'm talking about. There are pastors out there, there are theologians whom I love and whom I greatly respect, who say things like, Jesus is a king, but he's not a king yet. When he returns, he'll be coronated as king. Is that what Jesus says here? Not that he will be a king, but that he is a king. Jesus is already a king if we take what he says here at face value. Now, those who hold this position will say that he'll reign over his kingdom on earth for a thousand years. But it seems to me as though Jesus is already reigning over His kingdom. That's what He's saying to Caesar. He is already reigning as king over His kingdom. I think the response that this would get from those who hold this position is that Jesus has to sit on David's throne, which was a worldly throne. He didn't do that the first time that he came, so he has to do that when he returns. Or that's what I think they would say. But listen to what Luke writes in Luke 1, verse 33, where the angel says to Mary of Jesus, he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. In other words, it's not a kingdom over which he will reign for only a thousand years. It's a throne, a kingdom that he will reign over forever. In fact, Isaiah 9 says the same thing, that he's going to reign forever. Now, in John 1, verse 49, the disciple Nathanael says to Jesus, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel. What did Jesus do when he said that? Did he say, well, maybe someday I will be? Did he say that? Did he say, not quite, well, maybe kinda? Did Jesus correct him in any way when Nathanael said that? No, in fact, what he did is affirm Nathanael's statement. Not that he will be a king. Nathanael said, you are the king of Israel. Jesus is a king. He's not going to be a king in the future tense. He, present tense, is a king. But his kingdom, he says, is not of this realm. It's not earthly. It's not a worldly kingdom. Now, here's where Pilate starts to go wrong with his thinking, and it's where the world goes wrong with their thinking about Jesus. Pilate assumes that if Jesus is not an earthly king, then he is not a threat to Caesar, or to him, to Pilate, or to anyone. People will put Jesus, therefore, By the way, they think the same way that Pilate does, that Jesus isn't a threat to them. And so they'll put Jesus, therefore, into the same category as people like Buddha and Muhammad and Confucius and other religious leaders and founders, as if Jesus is just another guy who started a religion, right? But every one of us, friends, every one of us must know that Jesus is not just another guy who started a religion. Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius, Joseph Smith, all these other people who started religions, those guys are not a threat to anyone. We would agree with that. But Jesus is. Because if you were to survey the grave sites of all those other religious founders and leaders, you will still find their decomposed remains in there in one way or another. But you won't with Jesus. You won't with Jesus. Jesus died, but He was resurrected on the third day. He ascended into heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of the Father and reigns forever. He will return one day, and He will judge the living and the dead when He does. And all the other men and all the other women who have started religions will be counted among and judged along with the dead. as will everyone who follows those religious leaders. Those guys, the other religious leaders, have nothing in common with Jesus aside from the fact that they all have a human nature. Jesus' kingdom is not like a worldly kingdom. His religion is not like a worldly religion or any other worldly kingdom. It's totally different than anything that's ever been established. But this brings us up to a very important question. And that question is this, which kingdom, that is, which city, to use Augustine's terminology, reigns supreme? Which kingdom reigns supreme? Not only out there, but what about in you? Which kingdom reigns supreme in you? To which kingdom, that is, do we owe our highest loyalty and our highest sense of devotion? What we've learned over the past two and a half years is that many, if not most of the churches in America have given their highest loyalty and devotion to Caesar. Because when Caesar instructed that they close, when Caesar instructed that they stop gathering for worship, they stopped until Caesar said go. as if it's a game of Simon Says. And when Caesar said, well, okay, you can meet again in person, but you have to put up all these obstacles. You have to put up all these boundaries that people have to climb over if they want to hear the gospel preached and worship with the gathered church. They have to wear masks. They have to social distance, et cetera, et cetera. So if somebody comes in and they're not jumping through Caesar's hoops, they cannot hear the gospel preached. And many churches that complied even used scripture to justify their compliance. They said that Romans 13 tells us to submit to the governing authorities, which it does, but Paul also tells us in Romans chapter 13 that the purpose of the government is to punish evildoers and to reward those who do good. The authority that they have does not come into conflict with the commands that God has given us. And so, are we to submit when the governing authorities instruct us to defy God? Perish the thought. Are we to submit to the governing authorities when they forbid that we obey God? No way. Never. Jesus said, do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10, 28. But so many professing Christians were more afraid of getting sick or possibly losing their lives than they were of losing their souls. Now I'm not saying that those churches and that the Christians they're in, that closed, that they're not Christians. I'm not saying that necessarily. I suspect that many of them, if not most of them are. I think they most certainly meant well. But we are instructed, pretty specifically in God's Word, to gather regularly, in person, and we all know that Zoom, or Skype, or whatever, is no substitute. It's just not the same. It's not even close. Christ is King over the church, not Caesar. And this is why the underground church exists. The underground church exists because Christ is the head of the church. Christ is Lord over the church, not Caesar. If that were not true, then there would be no underground church. They would just comply with the government. Christ is head of the church. Christ is King who reigns over the church, not Caesar. Christians have to recognize that Caesar only has the authority to enact laws that are in compliance, in uniformity, in agreement with what God instructs in Scripture. And for that reason, Caesar takes a back seat to Jesus. The health of our souls takes priority over the health of our bodies. that Caesar's commands never supersede the commands of Scripture. Jesus is the King to whom we owe and to whom we give our highest. The city of man and the city of God, when they collide, and they often do because the values are so differently, When they collide, we have a choice to make. You have a choice to make, to consider wisely which kingdom you give priority to, which kingdom you yield to ultimately, first and foremost. So Pilate replies in a way that reveals that he did understand what Jesus was saying. He says, so you are a king. And Jesus says, you say correctly that I'm a king, for this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Wow. Jesus has Pilate, if you liken this to a game of chess, Jesus has Pilate in check here, so to speak. How is Pilate gonna get out of this? Does he hear Jesus's voice? Well, yes and no. He hears it in a physical sense, but not in a spiritual sense. And so he takes the way out that he has. His way out is to use what we call postmodern relativism. What is truth, he asks, as he walks away. Does he really want to know what truth is if he walked away? Nope. He doesn't want Jesus to answer. He doesn't want to hear what Jesus has to say about that. And those of us who use that kind of reasoning, we run into that all the time in our culture, don't we? They're really not any different. They're not really interested in discussion. But purely on face value, apart from the grace of God, it's going to go nowhere. If Pilate wanted to know what truth is, he would not have walked away because Jesus has just claimed to be the truth. Friends, in our day and age, people appeal to the exact same thing that Pilate did. They'll say, well, okay, you love Jesus, that's great. That's true for you, but it's not true for me. What do you say to that? You have to say something to that. I'd say, you know, no, all truth is objective. All truth is absolute. What's true for one person is true for everyone. That is the nature of truth, including the truth about Jesus. It's not just true for me, and that's why it is so offensive to the unregenerate heart. The thing that makes Jesus so offensive to the world, so offensive to to Pilate, to the unregenerate pagans, is the fact that He is not just a way to the Father, but that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and nobody comes to the Father except through Him. That is offensive, because you can't say, it's true for me, but not for you, because that is a universal statement. Nobody, not one person comes to the Father except through Jesus. You're not going to come through Buddha or Mohammed or Confucius. You're not going to come to the Father because you're a good enough person. You must go through Jesus. He's not a Savior. He is the Savior. He's the only way. The only salvation that God has granted is through His work. Pilate declares, based on his investigation, the verdict. He says, I find no guilt in him. And that we know that ultimately he fails to do the right thing in the end. Which is what? What should Pilate have done here as he says this? I find no guilt in him. What should he have done? He should have just let Jesus go. That's justice. That's what justice demands. Now up until this point Pilate has done great. He hasn't done anything wrong. In fact he's Really, he's done everything by the book. He's done everything right. He declares Jesus not guilty. And when his verdict isn't accepted by the Jewish religious leaders, he folds. He lets the people choose between setting Jesus free or setting an insurrectionist rebel named Barabbas free. And when they choose Barabbas, Pilate thinks that he can settle the people down by having Jesus scourged publicly. But in the end, Pilate sentences Jesus to death, showing us that we cannot be neutral toward Jesus. See, that's the illusion that people have. They think that they can just be neutral toward Jesus. But the fact is that nobody can be neutral toward Jesus. And Pilate certainly shows us that. Remember what Augustine said. He said, the city of man seeks the praise of men. You cannot please God and please men. You cannot aim for both targets. You've got one bullet and two targets that are miles apart. You can't hit both. You either live to please God, and sometimes man will be okay with you, or you live to please man, in which case God is never at peace with you. You must choose one or the other. Pilate could not ultimately be neutral toward Jesus. And friends, neither can you, neither can I, neither can anybody. We cannot be neutral toward Jesus. Like Pilate, you are either for the Lord Jesus Christ or you are against Him. And while Pilate judged and ultimately condemned Jesus, the time would come in which Jesus would judge and condemn Pilate as well. Jesus not only stood trial before Pilate, but Pilate would stand trial before Jesus. And the truth is, so will everybody else. All will stand on trial before Jesus Christ one day. And what He will demand of us on that day is perfection. What He will demand of us on that day is sinlessness. You don't have it. I don't have it on our own. Neither does anyone. The Scriptures tell us that there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. There is none who does good. There is not even one. On our own merit, every single one of us stands right next to Pilate condemned. We're sinners. But the good news, friends, the good news is that Jesus came to die for sinners who believe in Him. He alone has the perfect righteousness that He demands from us, and by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, His perfect, sinless righteousness is credited to us as if it's ours, as if we lived a perfectly sinless life when we believe in Him, and our sin is credited to Him and atoned for by His perfect sacrifice. so that God is both the just and the justifier of those who believe in Christ. Friends, we live in two cities. We live in two kingdoms. We can only serve one Master. There's no such thing as neutrality toward Jesus. You must choose one or the other. But remember this, the kingdoms of this world, including America, at some point or another, will all fail, will all fall. Rome did, and if America hasn't, she will. Jesus' kingdom is different. Jesus' kingdom has Jesus as their King, and Jesus will reign forever, and His kingdom will never fall and will never be shaken. Let's pray. Our most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word and for the work that Your Word does in us. And Father, we must confess before You that were it not for Your grace giving us ears to hear and eyes to see, we would stand guilty and condemned right next to Pilate. We would have no interest in what truth is or who truth is. We would have no interest in being reconciled to You. But we thank you for Jesus's perfect life and for his substitutionary death. As we read this passage, we remember that you're sovereign over all things and that what you have ordained will always come to pass. Teach us, O Lord, to be content, therefore, with whatever our portion may be, knowing that you are using and causing all things to work together, that we would grow in Christ's likeness and that Christ would be glorified. We pray, O Lord, that you would give us courage to speak the truth, to speak the truth to a world that lives for nothing beyond this world. that they would see that there is so much more, that they would see that this world will ultimately fall and ultimately fail, but that Christ's kingdom will never fall or fail because Christ lives and reigns forever. Teach us, O Lord, to yield our lives to Him, to submit our lives to Him, to render our highest loyalty and devotion unto Him, that He would be glorified. through our lives and the testimony of our lips. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.