[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to Expound, our
verse-by-verse study of God's word. Our goal is to expand your
knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the word of God
in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational. So at the risk of
sounding a bit mushy, let me just say I love you. [APPLAUSE] I love this church, and you may
remember in the gospel of Luke, it says that when
His hour had come, Jesus sat down
with his disciples and he said with
fervent desire, "I have desired to eat
this Passover with you before I suffer." And I always look forward to
the Lord's table, the Lord's supper, with you all. So with fervent
desire, all week, I have looked forward to this,
the Lord's table with you tonight. We're in the Gospel of
John, we're in chapter 18, if you would prepare your
bibles for that text, and prepare your hearts. We'll go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, at this
moment, we push away all of those competing
thoughts, all of those voices we have heard
either from other people, or from within our
own hearts that would condemn us
or deprecate us, your property that you
purchased with your own blood. And we stand before you
as sons and daughters, those who are cleansed
by a once and for all act that renders us not
guilty from heaven's court. In a few moments, we're going
to take these elements that speak of that finished
transaction on the cross, something our Savior
commanded that we do often in remembrance of Him. But we pray, Lord, that you
would just clear the decks from our thought life. Help us to hone in on what
your spirit is saying to us in our lives at this moment. In Jesus' name, Amen. Now, we know that all
things work together for good to those
who love the Lord, to those who are the called
according to His purpose. That is Romans 8:28,
one of your favorites. It's a soft pillow
for a tired heart. It's the truth we lean on. It's the truth we rest
upon, because it tells us of the sovereignty of God. And one of the most encouraging
truths in the universe is that God is sovereign. He is in control. There's nothing
out of his control. God never goes, oops. God never says, uh-oh. He's in total absolute control. Charles Spurgeon said there's
probably no other teaching or truth or doctrine
that is more comforting to the child of God
than that of His sovereignty. And we have seen it displayed
on the very night we have been studying about the
Passover evening, with Jesus and his disciples. In fact, the whole
Passover season, we have seen where Jesus is
not a victim of circumstance, he's orchestrating
the circumstances. He's the director. Like when he says to his
disciples, go in the village opposite you, and you'll
find a donkey tied up. Bring the donkey to me. And when somebody asks
you, what are you doing? Just say, the Lord
has need of it. And they'll let it go. And they went,
untied the donkey, and wouldn't you
know it, somebody was around going hey,
what are you guys doing? And the disciples
looked at each other like, let's try that line. The Lord needs it. OK, take it. Now, wouldn't that be great
if you could walk on a car lot and just say, I think
the Lord needs that one. I'll take the keys. Then, when it was time to
celebrate the Passover meal and they were wondering where
that was going to take place, Jesus said well, when
you go into the city, you're going to
see a man carrying a clay pitcher of water. Go ask him where the
room is to be prepared. And the owner of
that house is going to show you a large
furnished upper room. There, make ready. And so they did,
and so they ate. And Jesus taught them, and
we've been studying that. And then, at the
end of that episode, when the Lord on the
divine time clock knew it was now time to
get this show on the road, he said, arise. Let us go from here. And they rose up. And then-- as we have
been studying last time-- the Lord was walking his
men from the upper city of Jerusalem down the
descent of the Temple Mount toward the
Kidron Valley, which faces the Mount of Olives. And he's going to take them
there beyond the Kidron brook into the Garden of Gethsemane. Why? Because he has a
rendezvous to keep. He has an appointment to keep. Judas is behind
the scenes thinking he's come up with
a conspiracy to get Jesus arrested so that he
can get 30 pieces of silver. But this was all prophesied. This was all arranged. And Jesus fully knew. And he wasn't a victim,
he was a volunteer. He said, "no one
takes my life from me. I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it
down, and I have the power to take it up again." So he is in sovereign
control of this evening and all of these
circumstances of the Passover. And so in chapter
18 verse 1, when Jesus had spoken these words-- that is that prayer
that we saw last time-- when Jesus had
spoken these words, he went out with his disciples
over the brook Kidron, where there was a garden which
he and his disciples entered. I wonder if later on-- surely not at this
moment, but if later on-- the disciples would have
put two and two together, thinking back to
this night, the night they walked with Jesus down
that decent and over the brook Kidron and into the
Garden of Gethsemane. And I wonder if they
wouldn't have thought of 2nd Samuel, chapter 15. When David-- because of a
revolt of his son, Absalom-- was betrayed by his trusted
counselor, Ahithophel. He was betrayed by his
friend and then rejected by his nation. And so David crossed
over the brook Kidron, up the Mount of Olives,
and out to the wilderness. And I wonder if they
wouldn't have thought, wow. Isn't that amazing
that David did that, rejected by the
nation, betrayed by a friend. Jesus, the son of David,
rejected by the nation, betrayed by a friend. And then even to make that
similarity more similar, Ahithophel went and
took his own life, just as Judas will
take his own life. But at this point, Judas is
somewhere in the distance. He's with Roman soldiers. He's with temple officers. And they're coming to get him. So Jesus crosses over the
Kidron brook like David did. But something would
have been interesting, you'd never see it if you were
to cross over the Kidron Valley today, and you wouldn't have
seen it during David's day. But during Jesus' day when the
temple was up on that 35 acre complex, that plateau we
know as the Temple Mount, when the temple stood
there, every Passover when the lambs were killed,
the blood of those animals was drained into the altar. And we are told that a
stone receptacle collected the blood and a conduit went
from underneath the Temple Mount into the Kidron brook. And it was a lot of blood. The historian Josephus tells
us that on one of the Passovers during this era-- not during
this particular Passover, but one that happened
30 years later-- there were 256,000
lambs slain in Jerusalem in one single Passover. And I'm bringing that up,
because what I want you to picture in your
mind is the Lamb of God is crossing over
a brook that was filled with the red blood of
lambs that could not take away sin. And he saw that. And he knew what that meant. And he knew what he
had come to fulfill. Like Hebrews said, the
blood of those lambs could never take away sin. But the Lamb of
God would and did. And he crossed over
that with the disciples. They didn't pick up
on that at the moment. They were just following Jesus. And they come to a garden, a
garden we know as Gethsemane, it means the olive press. It was, after all,
the Mount of Olives. And on the Mount of
Olives was an olive farm. There were several of them,
and there were presses because olive oil was
like gasoline is today. It was for fuel. It fueled oil lamps. It was used for anointing. It was used in cooking. The country lived off of it. And so there on that
spot was a press where olives were crushed to get
the fruit out, the olive oil. Jesus goes to that
place of crushing, the olive press Gethsemane,
as the sin of the world is being placed upon him. And he voluntarily accepts
the cup as he will say, if I get to it. "I will drink this that
the father has given me." It's interesting-- and I
think John brings it up for a reason-- that there was a garden. Did you know that life
began in a garden? The Garden of Eden. But did you know that eternal
life began in another garden? Gethsemane. When Jesus said, not my
will, but your will be done. That's when it all began. Life began at a garden. New life began in the
garden of Gethsemane. In the Garden of
Eden, Adam sinned. In the garden of
Gethsemane, the last Adam-- that's what Paul calls him,
the second Adam, the last Adam, Jesus-- conquered sin. Overcame it by the willingness
to go to the cross. In the Garden of Eden,
Adam hid from God. In the garden of
Gethsemane, Jesus presents himself to the father. And life-- having
begun in a garden-- will also end in a garden. In new Jerusalem, there is
a garden-like environment with the tree of life. That's for another study. We don't have time
to even remark. And Judas, verse
2, "who betrayed him also knew the
place, for Jesus often met there
with his disciples. Then, Judas-- having
received a detachment of troops and officers
from the chief priests and the Pharisees--
came there with lanterns and torches and weapons." The garden of Gethsemane
was Jesus' spot to hang out. It was quiet. It was one of his
favorite places to go with his disciples. He did it a lot. Luke tells us that during
that week of Passover, he was teaching in the
temple and healing, and then he would
go away and he would sleep on the Mount of Olives. It was in the
garden of Gethsemane that he was camping out. He loved to go there. And because it is one of
Jesus' favorite places, it has always been one of mine. And because of that,
almost every time I've gone to Jerusalem, I like to
take a walk from the upper city through the Kidron Valley,
into the garden of Gethsemane, just to be reminiscent of all
of this that we are reading. Now, Judas comes with a
lot of people, many troops. We are told he received
a detachment of troops and officers from the chief
priests and the Pharisees. Matthew just says
a great multitude. It was a cohort-- a cohort is a tenth of a legion,
or that would be 600 men. We don't know if this was
a representative group of the cohort, but evidently,
it was a large group. And why would they
bring a large group to arrest somebody like
Jesus, the lamb, so gentle? Well, they had
tried to arrest him while he was in the temple-- if you remember a
couple of times-- and they were unable to do it. He just vanished
out of their sight. Not only that, but Jesus-- well, he stirred things
up twice in his ministry, once at the very beginning,
once at the very end. He walks into the temple
and overturned the tables by himself, ran
people out by himself. And that authority
they saw and they knew. And so they thought
let's bring backup, as if that would do any good. And so they brought backup. And they probably brought so
many troops, because it's not that they were afraid that Jesus
was going to pounce on them, but there could be
a revolt. You may remember that one of the
biggest fears of the leaders was that if they were trying to
arrest Jesus in a public place, that it would cause a
rebellion in the Temple Mount. So to protect from that,
they brought backup. Jesus, therefore-- now,
look how this is words-- Jesus, therefore-- knowing all
things that would come upon him-- he went forward and said to
them, "whom are you seeking?" They answered
"Jesus of Nazareth." He said to them, "I am He." Are you looking at your Bible? Can you see that sentence? Is He italicized? It's because it's not
there in the original. "Whom are you seeking?" "Jesus of Nazareth." "I am." I am. The Greek construction
Ego, I, me. Ego, I, me. If you had a Septuagint
version of the Book of Exodus and you were reading the spot
where Moses was at the burning bush and God commissioned him
to be the leader of Israel, and Moses scratched his head
and said, what's your name? When they ask me, the children
of Israel say who sent you? What name do I give? If you were to read that
in the Greek Septuagint, God says, ego, I, me. I am who I am,
same construction. An unmistakable use by
Jesus of the divine title known by the Hebrews as the
tetragrammaton, the divine name Y-H, V-H, or W-H, yah-weh. "I am," he said. And Judas who betrayed
him also stood with them. Now, when he said
to them, "I am," they drew back and
fell to the ground. See, this is not a victim. This is a volunteer who is
in absolute control, and just by speaking a word, can
make people fall down just like the Bible says. He will destroy the
lawless one in the end times with the breath,
or with his word. He'll just speak a
word and it's over. So just his word commands
them, and they fall backwards. And he said to them,
"whom are you seeking?" And they said,
"Jesus of Nazareth." So this is take two. Jesus answered, "I
told you that I am. Therefore, if you
seek me, let these-- the disciples--
go their way that, that the same might be
fulfilled, which he spoke of those whom you gave me. I have lost none." Where did he say that? In the previous
prayer in John 17. He says, Lord, all that you
have given me, none of them have I lost except for
one, the son of perdition, that the scripture
might be fulfilled. Later on, they remembered
that, by the Holy Spirit prompting John. And he wrote that
down, that it might be fulfilled which he spoke,
"all that you gave me, I have lost none." There is a psalm that
is a messianic psalm. And when I say
that, it has always been regarded from
its inception almost by Jewish people for centuries,
generations, as messianic. And that is the second psalm. Let me read it to you and
see if this doesn't just sound familiar. "Why do the nations rage and
the people plot a vein thing? The kings of the
Earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel
together against the Lord and against his Christ
or anointed, saying, let us break their
bonds in pieces and cast away their
cords from us." Let's get rid of God's control. Let's usurp his
power and authority. Let's have it our
way, our agenda. We'll do our thing. We'll govern ourselves,
and do what we want. Now, listen to God's response. "He who sits in the
heavens shall laugh. Ha, ha, ha," God would say,
as puny man shakes his fist, and says, he who sits-- God didn't even get up. He just sits back. God rules the universe
with his feet up. He doesn't even get up. He didn't cringe in fear,
he's just like (YAWNS) that's all you got? "The Lord will hold
them in derision. He shall speak to
them in his wrath and distress them in
his deep displeasure. Yet, I have set my King
on my holy hill of Zion." Wow. The rulers gathered
together against the Lord. It's speaking of this
convocation coming together against God. It sounds like a massive
international ACLU convention or something,
trying to push God out of life. God laughs, God has
got it all in control. And so here, that the
same might be fulfilled. Then, verse 10. "Then, Simon Peter--"
you remember him? We love him, don't we? "Simon Peter, having a sword"-- so I don't know if he got
it from one of the soldiers or he had concealed carry or
what, but he's got a sword, he drew it and struck
the high priest servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's ear was name-- yeah, they named
their ears back then. It's a weird thing you
may want to try it. The servant was named Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, "put
your sword into the sheath, shall I not drink the cup
which my father has given me." we love Peter. Peter was a great fisherman. Peter was a poor swordsman. Peter wasn't precise. He wasn't aiming at his
ear, are you kidding? Peter is going ballistic. He's all ISIS on these people. He wants to cut their heads off. He's going for Malchus
just like to do him under. He misses-- being a
good fisherman, not a good swordsman--
and cuts his ear off. This could have been a problem. If Jesus does not heal
him-- and he will-- there would have been
four crosses on Calvary. This is a capital offense. Jesus says, "put your sword up. Shall I not drink."
see, once again, he realizes this is
the Father's plan. This is sovereign will. God's sovereign will was
being worked out that evening. God had a plan, and everything's
going perfectly to plan. Now, yes, the soldiers
have their plans. The officers have their plans. Judas has his plan. There is a conspiracy afoot,
but their plan and God's plan is coming together. In fact, God is
using their plan-- they're like little pawns
on his chessboard-- simply to enact his sovereign plan. That's all that is. God's plan is that his
son provide forgiveness. Now, Peter is there. Peter is the guy with the sword. Later on-- bless Peter's heart. That's what they
say down south when something's wrong with
somebody, bless his heart-- later on, Peter will
get this in his head. He'll get this in his heart. He didn't get it now,
he's got a sword. Pretty soon, the sword will be
down, the Bible will be open. And Peter will say to the people
of this city in Acts chapter 3, speaking of Jesus,
Him, Jesus, Him being delivered by
the determined purpose and fore-knowledge of God you
have taken by wicked hands, crucified, and put to death. You killed him, you
put him to death. You are responsible for your
choices and your actions, but this is all part of
God's divine sovereign plan fore-knowledge of God. The purpose of God was enacted. Finally, Peter,
it'll click for him. But at this point,
Peter's hurting inside. He's hurting inside. This is a reaction to
something Jesus told him. Remember, Jesus said,
Peter, I know you love me, or you think you love me
more than you really do. And you swear that
you'll never deny me and you'll always follow me. You remember Peter said,
these guys are flakes Jesus, but you can count on me. I'm with you to the end. I'll never deny you,
I'll always be with you. Well, you're going to deny me
three times actually tonight. And he denied his denial. No, I'll go to death with you. Even if all others
do it, I won't. He is trying to prove Jesus
wrong by taking out the sword. I am here for you, I
am going to take over. I'm going to muster
my way through this, hack my way through this. How often we're
like Peter, trying to hack our way
through lives, trying to just get stuff
done with an axe, instead of letting the Lord-- who tells us, I got this
covered, I got it handled-- let him show himself. Then, verse 12, the detachment
of troops and the captain and the officers of
the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him, and
led him away to Anis first, for he was the
father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. Now, it was Caiaphas who advised
the Jews that it was expedient that one man should
die for the people. And Simon and Peter
followed Jesus, and so did another disciple--
this we think is John, the author of this book. Now, that disciple was
known to the high priest and went with Jesus into the
courtyard of the high priest. But Peter stood at
the door outside. Then, the other disciple who
was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to
her who kept the door and brought Peter in. Then, the servant girl who kept
the door said to Peter, "you are not also one of this
man's disciples, are you?" And he said, "I am not." Now, let me try to
do this quickly. There was not one
trial by Jesus. He's arrested now. And he's going to go to trial. But there's not one trial. There are, in fact, six
separate trials, mark them. The first one is before Anis,
the previous high priest still wielding great
influence in the nation. The second trial is before
the actual high priest, the one in power, the son-in-law
of Anis named Caiaphas. So he goes to Anis and Caiaphas. And those are like pre-trials. They're trials, but pre-trials. The third trial is with the
whole ruling body of the Jews, the Sanhedrin very, very
early in the morning. So there are three trials
that are religious trials. The next three are civic trials. And the first one or the fourth
one in the list of six, he goes before Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate sends
him to Herod Antipas. Herod sends him back
to Pilate, Pilate renders the final verdict. So six trials altogether. Now, first he goes to Anis,
not do the high priest. The high priest
is named Caiaphas. Anis is not the high priest. He is the father-in-law
of the high priest. But to complicate
things further, Anis used to be the high priest. He was the high priest put into
power under a provincial ruler named Quirinius. Do you know that name? You do know that name. Every Christmas,
you read that name. Luke chapter 2, Caesar Augustus
gave the decree the whole world should be registered. This decree was given while
Quirinius was governing Syria. That Quirinius allowed
Anis to be the high priest. But around 15 AD, he was deposed
by another provincial ruler named Valerius Gratus, the
predecessor of Pontius Pilate. He pulled him out and put
in Caiaphas, his son-in-law. Now, why is that important? Because high priests
don't have terms. They don't get voted in for
four years or eight years and then you get a new one. They're a high priest for life. But the Romans are in
charge, so they pull out the high priest,
put in a new one that they can control
a little bit easier. But Anis still wields
power and influence. And the reason they
went to Anis first-- let me tell you
why I think it is-- Anis controlled the
business of the temple. All the doves that
were bought and sold, all the lambs that
were bought and sold, all the money changes that
were in the temple courts, all of that belonged to Anis. And Jesus twice had
upset his business. So Jesus comes
before Anis first. Then, to Caiaphas the high
priest, then to the Sanhedrin, as I mentioned. So verse 18. "Now, the servants
and the officers who had made the
fire of the coal stood there, for it was cold. And they warmed themselves,
and Peter stood with them and warmed himself. And the high priest
then asked Jesus about his disciples
and his doctrine. Jesus answered, I spoke
openly to the world." Now before I get to that,
Peter has denied Jesus already, has he not? He's going to deny him again. And our Lord told him he would. Now, let me speak on behalf
of my brother, Peter. Preachers love to rag on Peter. Preachers love to make
Peter their whipping post. And you know, Peter he did this. And here's all the mistakes
Peter made, can I just say there's going to be a long
line of preachers in heaven waiting to apologize to Peter
for all the things we said about him. And I'll be in that
line, because I've had my share of sermons on Peter. And yes, he denied the Lord. But listen, he's
in the courtyard. The other ones have fled. Only John and Peter are there. At least-- listen,
this guy is courageous. I know he denies Jesus. There's a lot of reasons
we could look as to why I've got my own theories. But Peter's a guy that
took the sword out. Not a good plan, but that's
not a lack of courage. That's like I'm
willing to die now. And he's following Jesus
to the center of action. So for all the bad
things you want to say, you at least have to grant
Peter that he's there. And by the way, it's
not over for Peter. Even when he denies
the Lord, Jesus knew he was going to deny him. That's part of the control. That's part of the
sovereignty of God. Jesus said to Peter it's
recorded in the gospel of Luke. Peter, Satan has been asking
for you that he might sift you like wheat. But I prayed for you. And when you are restored,
strengthen your brothers. He'll be restored. Jesus loves to restore failures. Are you a failure? You're in the right place. You're about to take
the right elements. You're about to come
clean and be covered. And you might feel far from God,
but God is never far from you. You can call on him. You can turn back to him
right where you are, one step. Well, the high priest,
verse 19, asked Jesus about his disciples
and his doctrine. Now, look what Jesus
says, very interesting. "I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in the
synagogues and in the temple where the Jews always meet. And in secret, I
have said nothing. Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard me. What I said to them indeed,
they know what I said. And when he had said these
things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with
the palm of his hand, saying, do you answer the
high priest like that? Jesus answered him,
if I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. But if well, why
do you strike me? Then, Anis sent him bound to
Caiaphas, the high priest." Our Lord Jesus--
knowing all things-- also knew that in
that trial before Anis and the proceedings
that will follow, that this was an illegal trial. He knew this was not fair. He knew that this was not
according to their law. According to Jewish
law, you can never have a court proceeding
on a capital offense the night during or
before a festival. This is Passover. In fact, for that matter, you
can't have a court at night at all. You have to wait for
the next morning. Also, the high priest can
never directly question the defendant, because
they had laws protecting against self-incrimination. It was a prelude to
our Fifth Amendment. When somebody says, I
plead the Fifth Amendment. I will not answer on grounds
that it might incriminate me. That was part of
Jewish law as well. So all of this was
rigged, and Jesus knew it. So what he's saying
is call a witness. You need to have witnesses here,
you can't directly question me according to your law. You always have
to have witnesses. Call your witness. I've said nothing in secret. Well, they reacted. It was an ad hominem attack. They slapped him, struck him. "Simon Peter--" verse 25-- "stood and warmed himself. Therefore, they said to
him, you are not also one of his disciples are you? They asked them that before. He denied it and said, I am not. One of the servants of the
high priest, a relative of him who's ear Peter cut
off said, didn't I see you in the garden with him? Peter then denied again, and
immediately, a rooster crowed." Let me plant something
in your mind. Next time you think
of Peter the Apostle, I want you to think
of three phases of his life, three phases
of his ministry, how's that? Peter was at the fire, he's
warming himself by the fire, cozying up, cuddling
up to the world that is amassed against Jesus. So he's at the fire, number one. Number two, he's under fire. You're the guy right? You're the guy. You were with him. You're one of his disciples. No, no, no. So Peter was at the
fire, Peter under fire. Number three, Peter on fire. When he gets restored
again, when Jesus sees him at the shores of Galilee
and recommissions him again, this boy will be on fire. And you'll see it
in the book of Acts. Filled with the Holy Spirit,
witness of the Resurrection. And he is on fire. But right now, he's hurting. He denied, and immediately
a rooster crowed. "Then, they led Jesus from
Caiaphas to the praetorium. And it was early morning. But they themselves did
not go in the praetorium, because 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?" There's an old saying
that says if you can't find a lawyer
who knows the law, find a lawyer who knows the judge. The Jews had a problem. They could not adjudicate
in capital cases and have a positive verdict. They could not enact
the death penalty, that had been taken
away by the Romans. They knew that. They found him guilty,
they wanted him killed. But they could not kill
him because of Roman law. And so the best thing
to do is take it before the one who
can lay his gavel down and bring a positive
rendering in this case, and get this man killed. So they come to
Pontius Pilate where? It says the praetorium. Now, the praetorium
is a structure. If you go to Jerusalem,
you can see it. You can see the remnants
of the building. And it's been added to, but
it's essentially the same size. It was this huge
castle-like structure attached to the Temple
Mount on the Northeast side of the Temple Mount. And why was it there? Because during
festivals, millions of people from
all over the world came for sacrifices
and for festivals. The Romans were
afraid of an uprising, so they stationed extra
troops at festival time. And they had this tower
that overlooked the Temple Mount so they could
see any activity and be on it right away. So the Antonia fortress
is where troops were stationed during the festival. Not only that, but
Pontius Pilate is there. He didn't live there. Listen, Pilate was smart. You know he lived? At the beach. His headquarters was at Caesarea
by the sea, a beautiful spot, great weather. Not bad waves, by the way. But whenever there
was a festival, it was part of his duty as
the Roman governor procurator to go back to Jerusalem,
get stationed there, and watch over the proceedings. Well he's a gentile. And according to
Jewish tradition, the dwelling places
of the gentiles are defiled, are contaminated. So they want Pilate to
give them what they want, which is a guilty
verdict for Jesus. But they won't go
inside the praetorium. He's got to come
out to them, which doesn't set well with them. That's why he wants
to dismiss the case. Plus, being Passover, one of
the rituals before Passover is to go through the house
and get all the leaven out of the house. You take leaven out
and you search for it. It's a very elaborate process. It's called the Bedikat Chamtez,
the removal of the leaven, the search for the leaven. And so to go into a
gentile's palace or house, I'm sure it's going to
be leavened, defiled. So they want to be
ceremonially clean. How hypocritical can you get? I want to break the
sixth commandment and get a guy killed for
no good reason at all and break all of the
laws of the court, but I want to make sure that
I'm not defiled so that I can celebrate the Passover. So Pilate comes out. Pilate went over
and said to them, "what accusation do you
bring against this man?" They answered and said to him,
"if he were not an evil doer, we would not have
delivered him up to you." Then, Pilate said to
them, "you take him." He wants to dismiss it. He didn't want to
have anything to do with a religious squabble. You take him. "And judge him
according to your law. Therefore, the Jews said
to him, it's not lawful for us to put anyone to death." Now, they are
showing their hand. They want him killed. We've already taken
him to our court, we've already given him
the sentence guilty, we just want you to run through
the paperwork, get it done. Now, notice what it says,
that "the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he
spoke signifying by what death he would die." remember, he said,
"if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men to myself." Jesus said that. You know what he was
speaking of, right? The cross, the lifting up of the
cross, not lifting somebody up in worship. He meant being lifted
up on a Roman cross and being stapled to it. Now, why is this significant? Because Jesus predicted
he would die by gentile-- not Jewish-- means, by a cross. Jews didn't crucify people. How did they enact
capital punishment? Stoning. They would stone
a person to death. But to signify by what
death he would die, Jesus already announced I'm
going to be killed on a cross. All of this is happening
again, all under God's control for you. This is God loving you,
controlling the outcome of this to pay for your
sin and for mine. "Then, Pilate entered
the praetorium again and 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?" Very interesting response. Are you the King? Now, Jesus turns the tables
and asks him a question. Why? He's after his heart. He's after even this
pagan, Roman, calloused-- and history paints him as a
very callous, cynical, truculent individual. Are you King of the Jews? Are you asking this
as a Roman, or are you asking this out of rumor? Are you asking this because
you realize that I might be? That's the idea of the
question back to Him. "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." Our Lord is saying, I'm a
King, but not a political King. I'm a King, but not
a military King. I'm a spiritual
King, and I will be the eventual King of all Kings. I'll rule this world one day. But until then, it's
a spiritual kingdom. My kingdom is not of this world. He's the King today. He is a King of sorts. Is he the King of your heart? Is he the King of your life? He wants to sit on the throne
of your life as King, as Lord. Now, eventually, he is going
to take over the world. The political world,
the military world, it's all going to be under
his jurisdiction one day. One of the best versus-- one of
the best verses in Revelation-- in fact, all of
the New Testament-- is Revelation 11:15, when
the announcement comes. The kingdoms of this world have
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And he will reign forever. That day is coming, Pilate-- [APPLAUSE] --but until then,
he's a spiritual King. So now, Pilate's in a quandary
because Jesus said this. He said OK, my kingdom
is out of this world. You know, if he would
have just said yes, I am the King of the
Jews, then Pilate could have got him for insurrection. But what do you do
with a spiritual King? He's in the corner
going oh, man. What do I do with this? This is a hard trial, oh man. Now, to make matters worse,
his wife had a dream. By the way, just a few
words about Pilate. You know, Pilate
was not a Roman. he works for the
Roman government, he's a Roman
procurator, governor, prefect, provincial ruler. But he was not a Roman. You know, he was Spanish. He was born in Seville, Spain. He joined the Roman
legions as a child. He was not a good leader. He was really flunky. The only reason he got
the job here in Judea is he married the granddaughter
of Caesar Augustus. Her name was Claudia Procula. And one evening, Claudia
Procula got a weird dream. And Claudia sent a
note to her husband, uh, leave this guy alone. I had a nasty dream about him. I don't know what's
going on, but hands off. He should have
listened to his wife. A lot of men should,
but he didn't. But please, before we
finish the chapter, notice the wording
of Jesus in verse 37. "For this cause, I was
born--" now, watch this-- "and for this cause, I
have come into the world." Two things are at play here. You are delving into
the incarnation of Jesus from his own lips. I was born like everybody
else is born, unto us a child is born. But unto us a son is given. I came into the world. It connotes preexistence
and incarnation. I was born, and
it was that birth, that was the means of me who
existed from eternity past to come into the world. It's a very interesting
grammatical construction. "Everyone who is of the
truth hears my voice. Pilate said to
him, what is truth? And when he said this, he
went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find
no fault in him at all." That's a way of
saying case dismissed. He didn't want anything
to do with him. It's sad that he asked the
question what is truth, but he didn't hang
around for the answer. He walked out. A lot of people do. A lot of people say, man, I
just want to find the truth. I'm just interested
in the truth. But they are
predisposed to believe there is no such thing
as absolute truth. This is the cry of
postmodern philosophy. What is truth? Nobody can know absolute truth. There is no such thing. Your truth is different
than my truth. And it's on a sliding scale. So what is truth? Bot, that's a typical
politician too, by the way. What is truth? Because to people in
offices like this, truth is a sliding scale
determined by spin. You can spin anything
to make it say anything. What is truth? Verse 39. Let's finish this up,
take the Lord's supper. He goes back, says
to them, "but you have a custom that I should
release to you someone at the Passover. Do you therefore want
me to release to you the King of the Jews? They all cried again, saying
not this man, but Barabbas." Now, Barabbas was a robber. When it says robber, it
does not mean a petty thief. Doesn't mean he walked
into a 7-Eleven, stole a pack of gum and
cigarettes and he was out. This guy was a vile criminal. This guy deserved
the death penalty. He was an insurrectionist. Barabbas or Jesus? "Not this man, but Barabbas." Interesting note. you know what Barabbas means? "Bar" is son in Hebrew. "Abba", anybody know
what "abba" means? Father or daddy, "abba". You'll see little children
Israel, abba, abba means dad or father, daddy. Barabba or Barabbas
means son of a father. That's all it means,
son of a father. According to origin, the
Alexandrian Egyptian scholar of the second and third century,
the first name of Barabbas was Jesus, common name Yeshua. So the choice is
between Jesus Barabbas, and Jesus the Messiah. Do you want Jesus,
the son of a father? Or do you want Jesus,
the son of the father? That was their choice. And they chose for not
Jesus, the son of the father. And that is what happens
every day across this planet. People make the
choice for anyone but Jesus, the
son of the father. And they did. But he's not a victim. He's a volunteer. He's not a victim
of circumstance. These circumstances aren't
just happening around him. He is controlling them. I want to close with
this, and then we'll have the communion board come
up and we'll pass this out. This is a young
boy's understanding of biblical truth. He writes, he said,
after the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of the new. He was born in
Bethlehem in a barn. I wish I had been
born in a barn too, because my mom is always
saying to me close the door, where were you born, in a barn? Boy, would it be nice to say,
as a matter of fact, I was. During his life, Jesus
had many arguments with sinners like the
Pharisees and the Democrats. Jesus also had 12 possums. The worst one was
Judas Asparagus. [LAUGHING] Judas was so bad that they named
a terrible vegetable after him. But Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards, and
even preached to some Germans on the Mount. But all those guys put Jesus on
trial before Punches the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed
his hands instead. Anyways, Jesus died for our sins
then came back to life again. He went up to heaven,
but he'll be back at the end of the aluminum. [LAUGHING] His return is foretold in
the book of Revolution. I'll tell you, this kid
got a lot of stuff wrong. But he got a couple
things right. Jesus died for our
sins and is coming back to rule and to reign forever. [APPLAUSE] The issue becomes is the
ruling in your heart right now? As I pray, I'm going to ask the
communion board, our leaders of the church to come forward. And we'll pass these out. Father, thank you for the simple
truth that Jesus died for sin, rose again from the
grave as he predicted and as the scriptures
predict, and he's coming back as the King of
Kings, as the Lord of Lords. When every knee will bow, and
every tongue will confess. And though Jesus once said, my
kingdom is not of this world, otherwise my
subjects would fight. One day, the Lord Jesus will
return to just take over. Until that time Lord,
would you reign, would you rule in our families,
in our place of business, in our personal thought life,
in the decisions that we make? In our marriages,
with our friends? With our neighbors? Would you reign? Would you be Lord and King? Would you rule? Thank you, Lord, for what
these elements speak to us of. And we are doing it in
obedience to the commandments of our Savior, to do it
often in remembrance of Him. Speak life and forgiveness
and love, restoration and acceptance to those
of us gathered here through these elements, we
ask in Jesus' name, Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING]
