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Father, thank you for this day that you have given us. Lord, thank you for your blessing, blessings, and your mercy and your grace that you pour out upon us. Lord, thank you for bringing us together today to worship you, to praise you, and to be in your word. And father, I pray that your spirit will move within us today as we hear from your word.
Father, I pray that you will hide us behind your cross and shield our minds from the distractions of the world around us as we come to you for an hour. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
So I apologize, everyone. The first five minutes of service, the audio for anyone not in person was out. I forgot to turn it on, so my bad. By way of quick announcements, just a reminder that this Friday in Cedar City there will be no church. It is canceled this week, but we will pick up and resume as normal the following week.
Other than that, I think that is everything for announcements. So let's continue where we left off in the book of John. We're in chapter 18. This week. We left off on verse 28, but a recap of what happened and up to there is here in chapter 18, Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane in the first few verses.
And we talked about when the guards came and Jesus said, who is it that you're seeking? And they said, jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I am he. And remember the reaction. They all.
They stepped back, and they fell to the ground when he said that. And I drove home the point, and I want to make sure we remember. So I'm going to mention it again tonight. The significance of the words Jesus spoke when he said, I am he. English is horrible, a horrible language for conveying the meaning of scripture.
Jesus was not just saying that. If you asked for Matt, and I said, I'm Matt, or I am he. I'm just saying I'm who you're looking for. When Jesus said, I am, he was proclaiming the name of Goddesse. He was claiming to be God when he said that.
He's then arrested, and he's taken to trial. And remember, he's brought first to the father in law of the high priest. Then he is brought to Caiaphas. And when he is brought to Caiaphas, Peter denies Jesus three times.
He denies him, first at the beginning of the trial, and then twice more at the fireplace as they're transitioning before things. So in verse 28, the trial of Christ will continue, this time with pilate. So we're going to begin by reading verses 28 through 32. It says, then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early morning.
They did not enter the headquarters themselves. Otherwise they would be defiled and unable to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and said, what charge do you bring against this man? They answered him, if this man weren't a criminal, we wouldn't have handed him over to you. Pilate told them, you take him and judge him according to your law.
It is not legal for us to put anyone to death. The Jews declared. They said this so that Jesus words might be fulfilled, indicating what kind of death he was going to die. Okay, so Jesus, he goes. He leaves Caiaphas, the high priest, and they bring him to Pilate's headquarters in the early morning.
Now, this is interesting. The Jews refuse. They bring him there, and they want to condemn him on this day. But they will not enter into the house of Pilate out of fear of being condemned. Unclean.
And according to jewish law, if you are unclean, spiritually unclean, ceremonially unclean, they would call it. Then you cannot partake of the Passover dinner.
But there's more to it than that.
This trial, in and of itself there's a reason they would be unclean. Was illegal. It was against everything that Judaism stood for. And there should have been. And according to israeli law, no trial taking place on this day, on this morning, especially at this time.
So they do not enter the headquarters themselves. Otherwise they would be defiled and unable to eat the Passover. So Pilate comes out to them.
I can't imagine what governor, what judge is going to say. If you want me to try someone you know now, you don't have to come into my court. I'll come out to you. But Pilate, the governor, comes out to them and he asked them a question. He says, what charge do you bring against this man?
A legitimate question, right? If I'm going to drag you to a courthouse to have you condemned, it is only.
It's only right, only fair to you that the judge asked me, what charge do you bring against him? What did they do?
But their answer. Look at this. If this man weren't a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you. They can't give a charge. Remember in the trial last week.
Let's go back.
Let's go back to verse 20. In verse 19, Annas, the father in law of the high priest, questions Jesus about his teachings. And Jesus says this, I have spoken openly to the world. I have taught in the synagogue. I've taught in the temple.
Nothing I have said was in secret. It's all public knowledge. If I have done wrong, tell me, what wrong have I done? Now, I'm paraphrasing because I skipped a few verses. I skipped to verse 23.
If I've done wrong, he says, give me evidence about that wrong, and no evidence is ever presented. Now, remember, the Bible. The Old Testament specifically, is a jewish book or collection of books written by Jews. And the New Testament is still a jewish book written by Jews who converted to Christianity, who follow Christ. So we could say the Bible might be biased.
Might the authors of the Bible, Jesus, really, he says here, if I've done wrong, give me the evidence and no evidence is given. So we could say the Bible is clearly biased, right? And the authors who don't want Jesus to seem guilty left out the evidence. But if we look to extra biblical sources, history has never brought a charge against this Mandev. Pilate never brings a charge.
In fact, Pilate will later say, the roman governor will later say that he has tried him and found no faults. Right? The jewish scholars, even today, if you look to Judaism, they have brought no charges against Jesus. If you look at Josephus, is a historian, a first century historian who is likely around during this time. And he really was biased away from Jesus.
He did not follow Jesus, did not believe in him or support him. But despite the fact he talked about the miracles he did, he talked about the other things that he did, and he never brought forth charges.
So in the office of the high priest, they cannot bring forth any charges. So they drag him to the governor, and the governor says, what charge do you bring against the man? And their answer is, if he wasn't guilty, we wouldn't give him to you. What a passive aggressive way to avoid answering the question. They answer this way because they can't give an answer.
He's not guilty of any wrongdoing. He's never lied to them. He's never broken the sabbath. He's never murdered, he's never stolen, he's never committed adultery. He's never done anything.
And so their answer is, he's guilty. That's why we've brought him to you.
Pilate wisely tells him. Pilate says, take him. Judge him according to your law.
The roman government, they were smart. The Romans knew that in order to control this massive territory that they had conquered, they conquered a territory nearly as massive as the United States. And think about how hard of a time we have governing the United States in a technological age where we can communicate, where we can see each other, where we can rate it, we have computers that can keep records on who the criminals are, who has and hasn't paid their taxes, who's done this, who's done that, and we can't do it today. Well, back then, they had a territory nearly the size of the United states, and they needed a way to control the people. If you're going to go and you're going to conquer every nation as far as you can reach, and they have different religions, different cultures, different customs, how are you going to integrate all of them into your society without massive uprisings and rebellions?
And the Romans came up with a great way to do that. You pay taxes to us, you follow our civil laws, and we will let you govern yourselves by your religious laws.
So the Romans allowed the Jews to enforce their own laws, as long as they weren't contradictory to the roman laws. They allowed them to jail their own people. They allowed them to condemn their own people to death. So Pilate tells them, look, if you're not going to tell me what crime he has committed, you go and judge him according to your own law.
So far, I think Pilate's a fair and upstanding guy.
Too bad he doesn't turn out in the end. We'll see that here later. So the Jews say it's not legal for us to put anyone to death. Well, this isn't true. The Jews have the full authority of the roman government to try people according to their laws and condemn themselves to death.
However, what the Jews are really saying, they're not. They're not saying here we can't put a man to death. They're saying, we can't crucify a man. And that is true. The Jews specifically wanted Jesus crucified.
They didn't just want to kill him. They didn't just want to eliminate their problem. They wanted him to suffer and to be crucified. And under roman law, it was illegal for anyone but the roman government to crucify a man. That's indicated in verse 32.
They said this so that Jesus words might be fulfilled, indicate in what kind of death he was going to die. Turn with me to John chapter three.
In John chapter three, we're going to look at what Jesus says here in verse 14. It says, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the son of man must be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. It goes on to say that in this way God loved the world, that he gave his only and begotten son, only begotten son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Jesus indicated as early as John, chapter three. This is the first prophecy of Jesus describing in the way that he would die, I must be lifted up.
Throughout the book of John, we've seen that Jesus has indicated that he will die on the cross several times. And the Jews seek that death right now in verse. Let me get back there. In verse 32.
Look with me at verses 33 37, it says, then Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, are you asking this on your own, or have others told you about me? I'm not a jew, am I? Pilate replied, your own nation. And the chief priest handed you over to me.
What have you done?
My kingdom is not of this world, said Jesus. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I wouldn't be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here. You are a king. Then Pilate asked, you, say that I'm a king?
Jesus replied, if I was born for this and have come into the world for this, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Just look at verse 38. What is truth? Said Pilate.
Great question. We'll talk about it in a minute. So Pilate summons Jesus into his headquarters. So this is the chambers of the judge. Jesus is going for a one on one meeting.
And the governor, he says, are you the king of the Jews? What an interesting question to ask. Like, where did this come from? When asked what crime he had committed, the Jews never said he's committed for claiming he committed the crime of claiming to be the king.
He just. He is. He. But Pilate somehow knows. And Jesus, he prods at this.
He says, are you asking this on your own? Like, does something indicate to you that I might be kingly or might be a king or think I'm a king? He says, or have other people told you about me? He wants to know, why do you question who I am?
So Pilate says, I'm not a jew. In verse 35, I'm not a jew. But your nation and your priest handed you over to me. So what have you done? I like what Pilate's doing here.
He couldn't get an answer from the Jews. And so he says, look, I'm not a jew. But your nation, your people, they seem to think you've done something wrong. They've brought you to me. Tell me, what have you done?
What crime have you committed?
Jesus's answer, he kind of. It might sound evasive, but it's not. What crime did jesus commit? What crime could that one person who never sinned, who was perfect in every way, what crime shall he have committed? So he instead answers about his kingdom.
He says, my kingdom is not of this world.
Guys, we need to understand something here. The Jews, the reason they don't like Jesus is because he is not a political savior. And that's what they were looking for. The Jews were in the jewish mind. They had missed, and we know they missed so much.
God said, you shall not use his name in vain. So what did the Jews do? They said, well, if we are, if we're not allowed to use his name in vain, and using his name in vain brings a death sentence, then we will just never speak his name at all. And to this day, a Jew will not speak the name of God. A Jew who speaks English, if he writes God down on paper or in text or is communicating about him, he will write capital G.
Dh. They absolutely refused to speak the name Yahweh out of fear of using his name in vain. God never said, you can't say his name or speak his name or use it. He just said, you can't use it in vain. God said that you shall not work on the Sabbath, you shall keep the Sabbath holy.
The Jews, in an effort to keep the Sabbath holy, in an effort to not violate the Sabbath day, instituted a law that if you walked more than x amount of steps on the Sabbath day, you are guilty of breaking the Sabbath out of fear of violating the Sabbath. If you happen to be in a cornfield, they would persecute you for plucking the corn. In fact, they did that very thing to Jesus.
The Jews have, in an effort to avoid offending God, taken his law, and they have added to it what I call fence laws. They have built up all these fence laws, and what they have shown us is their heart really is not in it. They had missed everything.
So if they had missed all of these things, what surprised then, is it that they also missed the purpose of the Messiah?
Their hearts were hardened. If you truly love God, you don't have to worry about speaking his name. You don't, you will never use it in an offensive way.
So refusing to speak his name out of a fear of misusing it is not needed.
But if you don't really love God, and your concern is only not the judgment of God, well, now you need offense law. So their heart is wrong. And what they were looking for, beginning near 604 BC, with the fall of the tribe, and even a little prior with the fall of the tribe of Dan in the northern kingdom, in fact, Dan was the northernmost tribe of Israel. They fell, they were conquered, and then they came, and they conquered the rest, Judah and Israel, and brought them into Babylonian captivity. Right?
That is the book of DANIEL, the book of isaiah, the book of jeremiah. They're brought into captivity. And from that MOmenT Until 1948, the jews have never existed as their own nation.
For 2600 years, the jews had not existed as their own nation. So from 600 bc, conquests began, and then by 584 bc, all of israel have been conquered. They have been carried away to Babylon. They are prisoners, they are being executed, they're being forced to worship false gods. They're all of these things.
And then even when they, 70 years later, sometime around 520 BC, they're allowed to enter their land again. But when they enter their land, they Enter it still under occupation. They build up a wall, they build up their gates, a fortress, but they are still governed by Babylon, and then they're governed by the Persians, the Medes, then they're governed by the Greeks.
That's what Samaria is. SAmARIA are a group of Jews who are seen as impure because they ended up taking greek husbands and wives. And then after the GReeks, they are governed by Rome. And in the jewish mind, the MessIah was a political savior. The Messiah was going to raise up an army and was going to free them from occupation and bring back their independence.
And when Jesus becomes popular, you'll notice if you remember the storyline when he first becomes popular. The Jews love him. They flock to him. But as soon as they find out that he does not care about politics, as soon as they find out he is not going to free them from the roman occupation, they turn against him. But we have to understand something about God.
God's kingdom has never been a worldly kingdom Jesus established in John five. He says, that which is flesh is flesh, and that which is spirit is spirit. Right? He says, I'm not of this world. My followers are not of this world.
He says, my kingdom is not of this world. And I tell people all the time, like, I'm not a citizen of this world. Yeah, I might have a temporal citizenship to the United States. I might have a temporal citizenship to the state of Utah, but I'm not a citizen of this world. I'm an alien here.
I am sojourning here, meaning I'm moving through. I'm here temporarily because my home is not here.
It's in heaven, where God's kingdom is. Jesus says, if my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I would not be handed over, but my kingdom is not from here. He says, we're not fighting Rome. And that's what Pilate is really concerned about when he says, are you the king of the Jews? Pilate really doesn't care if Jesus is the king of the Jews.
And I use their quotes, but Jesus really is king of the Jews. He's king of all of us. But my Eric wants to say, Pilate doesn't care so much about that as much as he cares about are you a threat to the roman government?
That's what he wants to know. So Jesus responds. He says, my kingdom's not of this world. My kingdom's in heaven. We're no threat.
Notice my servants don't fight you. We're not taking up the sword. We're not building up an army. We are no threat to you. So what does Pilate get out of this?
Verse 37, he says, so you are a king. Then Jesus says, you say that I'm a king.
And then he says, I was born for this. And for this, I have come to the world to testify to the truth, right? So he is a king, and he was born for a purpose. He was born to come and to testify that we are sinners and that we need a savior, that we need him to save us, and that he is that savior. And he was born.
When he says, I was born for this, he is referring to what he's going through immediately right now. He says, I was born for this. I was born to be put before you, to be tried, condemned and die upon the cross. I was born for that reason, and I have come to testify of the truth.
And then he says, everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Look, if you love truth, you'll listen to Christ. If you love truth, you'll put aside all this subjective behavior. All this idea of truth is subjective based on your viewpoint and what you feel. And truth is absolute.
And Pilate says in verse 30, he says, what is truth?
And that's a great question. What is truth? Is truth subjective? And if so, I'm going to say this now. If truth is subjective, if what is true for me is not true for you, then there is no truth at all.
Because if what's true for me is gravity, but what is not true for you, that means there is no gravity for you. You don't obey the laws of gravity for some reason. There's no truth. If what is true to me is murder, is wrong. But that is not true to you, then there is no truth.
Right, to get a little political here. If what is true to me is that there are only male and female genders, but to you there's any myrad possibility of genders and both are true, then there is no truth.
Truth is either objective and unchanging or it doesn't exist.
But what we will find if we look, we don't have to look far, we don't have to look deep or hard. But we will find that if we look, truth shows itself to be objective. It shows itself to exist. Every apple that you throw up will fall down. There are only two genders.
We require oxygen to breathe to survive, water to remain hydrated, sun to provide warmth. And like it's objective, it's not different for each of us. So what is truth? Well, we have the person of truth, and that is Jesus. In John 14 six, he says, I am the way, the truth and the life.
No one comes to the father but through me. So the truth is we are separated from God and we need Jesus Christ to go to the father. To bridge that separation. But then there's also a power of truth. Truth sets people free.
There's the practice of truth. We worship in spirit and truth, right? But then there's permanent truth. What is permanent truth? That's the word of God.
John. 1717, three weeks ago, sanctified them. In truth, your word is truth. So the word of God is the ultimate authority, ultimate truth. Everything that the word of God says is true.
Everything that the word of God says is sound, is good for correction, for practice, for teaching, for rebuke. And who is the word of God? None other than Jesus Christ. And the word of God does not change. And a lot of people hate that.
A lot of people complain about the fact that the world God, the word of God, does not change, but it's unchanging. It's eternal and everlasting. So let's finish this chapter. We're going to read verse, we're going to finish pick up in verse 38 and we're going to go through 40. After he said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, I find no grounds for charging him.
You have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at the passover. So do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? They shout about not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a revolutionary.
All right? So Pilate up to this point is a very fair man. He's objective, he's fair, he's doing everything right. And he goes to the Jews and he says to them, I find nothing wrong with him. I cannot charge him with a crime.
Here is where Pilate is wrong. Here is where Pilate messes up if he cannot find a crime. Is he a criminal? No, he's not. So he says, you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at the Passover.
He should never have presented this choice between Jesus and the criminal because he had said, jesus is innocent. I find no crime to charge him. So he shouldn't be. He's not a prisoner. He should have said he's free to go, but he doesn't.
He says, who do you want me to release? The king of the Jews. I love what he says of the king of the Jews.
And they say, no, they want, they want Barabbas to be released.
They want a sinner, they want a somebody who is guilty of a crime, who is, who is guilty of, of whatever law. We don't know what crime he did here in this chapter, in this passage, but we know that he was guilty of a crime. It says he's a revolutionary. Meaning, at bare minimum, he's an insurrectionist.
And they want. In fact, this is funny, really. They bring him to Pilate to say that he's a threat to your government. Right? He's a.
He's a threat. And if you don't take care of him, then the higher ups in Rome are going to have a problem. And then who do they choose to release? A revolutionist.
A rebellious insurrectionist person who is keen on overthrowing the roman government. Isn't there irony in that?
But, guys, as we close tonight, as we come to an end of this chapter, I want to remind you the holiday this takes place over, the jewish holiday is Passover.
And during the festival of Passover, the Jews had a custom. It was given to them by God. And that custom was they would take a perfect lamb that was one year old, it would have no defects, no spots, nothing wrong with it, and they would release it into the wilderness.
Why? It represented one man being given for the sins of all the others. That is what that lamb did. That lamb carried the sins of Israel away into the wilderness. And we watched that play out right here, right?
In this scenario, you have a innocent person and a guilty person, right? Barabbas represents all that is sinful. He represents all of us. In this story, you have the sinful man who is released, who is set free, and the guilt is carried away by the innocent.
And Jesus tells us, he says, he told us, if we go back just a couple verses, verse 37, he says, I was born for this purpose. He was born to carry away our sins, born to bear that burden. He was born that we would be set free. So if you are listening to this tonight, and you are not yet free, you can be. If you are being crushed under the weight of your sin, your guilt, your burdens, your worry and anxiety and doubt, whatever it may be, one man died so that he could carry it away, and he can carry it.
His blood, his atonement, is powerful enough to do it for all of us, but it requires the truth. And I said earlier, what is the truth? And I pointed out that we are separated from God and need Jesus to bridge that gap. So the truth tonight is that we are all sinners. We admit that we are all sinners, that our ways are corrupt and defiled and not God's ways.
Jesus is God, in the flesh incarnate, who stepped into creation, died upon the cross to take away our sins. We believe that, and it's true. And then we confess that Jesus is lord.
So many Christians are happy to see Jesus as their savior, but refuse to acknowledge his lordship. But we confess him as lord, as our king. He is the kingdom and our God. And he says, whosoever will confess me before their fellow men, I will confess before the father. If you would believe in your heart that he was raised from the dead and confess him as lord, you'll be saved.
And you could have that tonight. And if you truly can believe these things, and if you're truly ready right now to give your life to Jesus, then I invite you to ask him for that in our closing prayer. You can repeat after me as we pray, but I want you to know that prayer won't save you. The words don't save you. It's that belief, that true and sincere internal belief, that will save you.
Immediately after our closing prayer, we will be partaking of the Lord's supper. So for those who want to partake, please stick around after service as we partake of that. And then Wednesday at 06:30 p.m. mountain time, we will have our Bible study. We'll be beginning a brand new book, the Book of First Thessalonians.
For those who are reading ahead, let's pray.
Father, I admit that I'm a sinner and that I can't save myself. I admit that my ways are defiled and corrupt and just wrong. And I know there was nothing I could do about it except give it to you. And I believe, Jesus, that you are God, that you're the creator of the heavens and the earth. That you really did step down into this creation and live and die for me.
And that you rose again from the grave. And I confess you, Lord Jesus is my God and king. I will remove my crown and follow you all the days of my life. And I ask you for this free and precious gift. Father, we thank you today as we read this, as we read of your word and your love for us, we thank you that you gave one man, Jesus Christ, to die for us and take our sins, that we would not have to die.
And with remembrance of this gift and this joy, we thank you in Jesus holy name. Amen. I.