Jesus Before Pilate (John 18:28-40)
Notes
Transcript
Announcements
Announcements
Bible Study & Prayer at 7pm on Wednesday
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Prayer of Repentance and Adoration
Call to Worship (Psalm 45:10-17)
Call to Worship (Psalm 45:10-17)
Our Call to Worship this morning is from Psalm 45:10-17. Remember that this is a royal psalm utilized by Israel whenever a king would be married, but the psalmist also has the future eternal king in mind as he writes these words—Jesus as the king and the church as the bride. Please stand and read Psalm 45:10-17 with me—I’ll read the even-numbered verses, please join me in reading the odd-numbered verses.
10 Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear:
forget your people and your father’s house,
11 and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him.
12 The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts,
the richest of the people.
13 All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.
14 In many-colored robes she is led to the king,
with her virgin companions following behind her.
15 With joy and gladness they are led along
as they enter the palace of the king.
16 In place of your fathers shall be your sons;
you will make them princes in all the earth.
17 I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;
therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.
Congregational Singing
Congregational Singing
Across the Lands
All Hail the Power
All I Have is Christ
Scripture Reading (Romans 1:18-25)
Scripture Reading (Romans 1:18-25)
Our Scripture Reading is going to be read by Natalie this morning and it’s in Romans 1:18-25. The passage is written by Paul concerning the godlessness of those that don’t believe. Paul writes that those that refuse to believe have rejected the truth and have even suppressed the truth because God is knowable to anyone who wants to believe. He explains that because of their unbelief, they’re falling deeper and deeper into sin. Natalie please read Romans 1:18-25 for us:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Sermon
Sermon
Introduction
Introduction
If you have your Bible with you this morning, please turn it to John 18:28-40.
I don’t have much for an introduction this morning, I really just want us to jump straight into the text. So, as soon as you get to John 18:28-40, we’ll jump right in.
Let’s read John 18:28-40:
28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” 31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” 32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
As we study this passage this morning, we’re going to break it into two sections: (1) vss. 28-32, Jesus is taken to Pilate moves the narrative along from his first trial will Annas to his third trial with Pilate. I’ll explain a little bit about a why we don’t see John talking at length about the trial with Caiaphas, but the real point of vss. 28-32 is to act as a transition. (2) Vss. 33-40, is Pilate Questioning Jesus. The purpose of which is to determine whether Jesus is guilty of any sort of law-breaking. Pilate concludes that he isn’t and tries to release him, but the Jews refuse. In the midst of this trial, we see Pilate posing some interesting questions with Jesus responding in a way that might be a little surprising. We’ll work through those responses as we work through that section this morning. The main point that we’ll be driving at this morning concerns both Jesus’ kingdom and Pilate’s question, “what is truth?” It’ll cause us to ponder these ideas themselves and cause us to seek Jesus’ kingdom and seek the truth.
Prayer for Illumination
Jesus is taken to Pilate (28-32)
Jesus is taken to Pilate (28-32)
The Bible starts this section by telling us what happens next in John’s account of Jesus’ trials, but you’ll notice something that might seem unusual. John skips over the trial that Jesus has with Caiaphas. In vs. 24, we’re told that Annas sent Jesus to Caiphas; in vss. 25-27, we read about Peter’s denial of Jesus, but then in vs. 28, we’re told that Jesus was then led from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters.
Let me start by saying that this isn’t a mistake, John did this intentionally, quite possibly because the trial before Caiaphas wasn’t necessary for John to record.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke all have accounts concerning his trial in front of Caiaphas, so perhaps John didn’t feel it was necessary for him to record it again.
If you look at the other accounts, particularly Matthew and Mark, we see just short accounts of Caiaphas trying Jesus. And there are some notable details.
Mark 14:55 says “the chief priests and the [Sanhedrin] were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree.” Or in other words, they tried to find witnesses to claim that Jesus was doing something that deserved death, but the only people who came forward were people who were lying so drastically that none of the witnesses agreed on anything.
Matthew 26:62 tells us that the high priest asked Jesus to respond, but Jesus didn’t say anything until the high priest asked him “if [he is] the Christ, the Son of God.” When being asked that specific question, he says, “I am, and you will see the Son of Many seated at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
Caiaphas then makes the claim that Jesus is speaking blasphemy, the Sanhedrin decides that he should be put to death, and the guards start to beat him, spit on him, and mock him.
John might not have recorded this because he thought Matthew, Mark, and Luke and given sufficient witness to this; or it could be that because of John’s purpose for his Gospel account, he didn’t feel that it was necessary to record this trial, in addition to the trial with Annas and now the trial with Pilate.
Regardless of the precise reasoning for leaving out that trial, John moves on to Jesus’ trial with Pilate. Vs. 28 says “they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.”
I do want to point out the amount of hypocrisy that is occurring, not by Jesus, but by the Jewish leadership. Remember, that all of these rushed, overnight trials against Jesus went against their own Jewish laws.
When Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin convened to judge Jesus, the Bible tells us they couldn’t even find witnesses because none of the witnesses who knew the truth would speak up and the ones who lied, were so drastically different in their accounts that none of their accounts were reliable.
Which by the way, is another law broken, because law required every capital trial to be confirmed by two or more witnesses and they had none.
And yet, they’re still going forward with trying to put Jesus to death.
So, it’s clear that they only really bother with the Jewish laws when it works in their favor. Or in the case of them refusing to enter the governor’s headquarters, they only did this to keep the appearance of holiness towards the people.
If they would’ve entered into Pilate’s home, which is where the governor’s headquarters was, they would’ve been ritually unclean and those that were watching this whole situation would’ve known that the high priests and the Sanhedrin as well as the Jewish guards who were taking Jesus from trial to trial would’ve been unclean.
So, to keep face, they refused to enter into the headquarters. Thus, they’d still be able to partake in the Passover.
Again, consider the hypocrisy because they had no issue with disobeying Jewish law when it came to doing something that could further their own cause.
The Bible says that it was early morning when they led Jesus to Pilate and Pilate’s trial of Jesus starts with him asking the Jewish leadership why they brought him to them. Vs. 29, “Pilate went outside to them and said, ‘What accusation do you bring against this man?’”
Which, let’s be honest, is a good question. Remember that Pilate was a Roman official, not a Jewish official. And in this time period of Rome, the Roman government allowed the local or regional governments of the conquered peoples to handle most criminal justice related issues.
The Sanhedrin would handle most criminal offenses and dish out the punishments required for those criminal offenses, but Rome’s policy was that when it came to capital punishment, only Rome could handle those sorts of criminal offenses.
When Jesus is brought to Pilate, the idea that Pilate is confronting them isn’t just “what did he do wrong?” It’s “what did he do to warrant a death sentence.”
And in John’s Gospel account, they skirt the issue. All they say is “if this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”
Or put another way, anyone with discernment can see that they’re sort of beating around the bush—they’re essentially telling Pilate, that they should just believe them.
They supposedly wouldn’t have brought Jesus to him if they didn’t know that he had done evil things. That idea is a bit vague.
Which is probably why Pilate reminds them that they can judge him according to their own laws themselves.
But here’s the issue, the Jewish leaders want to kill Jesus and in vs. 31b, they remind Pilate that “it is not lawful for [them] to put anyone to death.”
Now, of course, this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen the Jewish leaders express their desire to kill Jesus, but this is the first time that they’ve involved the Roman government in their plan to kill Jesus.
We do have to ask, what are they saying that convinces Pilate to even try Jesus, because remember, the Sanhedrin determined that Jesus was guilty of blasphemy.
Rome doesn’t care if Jesus commits blasphemy according to the Jewish God.
We have to look at the other Gospel accounts to see what exactly they accused Jesus of to get the Roman government involved. Matthew and Mark just says that they hurled many accusations at Jesus, but Luke is a little more detailed.
Luke 23:2 says, “they began to accuse him, saying, ‘we found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.’”
The first two accusations mentioned in Luke 23 are simply fanciful. When did Jesus ever mislead anyone? And when did he ever forbid giving tribute to Caesar?
The last accusation, that Jesus claimed to be the anointed one, a king is absolutely true and that’s the accusation that Pilate sticks with throughout the trial.
And of course, we could look at this entire situation as proof of the Jewish leadership’s corruption, of their hypocrisy, their greed, and the fact that they were power-hungry. Those are all true.
It doesn’t take much to see that a large portion of the reasoning for the Jewish leadership to do what they did to Jesus was because Jesus challenged their position of authority and their world view.
If people followed Jesus, the high priest and the Sanhedrin would lose power and thus, they fought and they lied and the manipulated people to get what they wanted.
But we also have to look at the ultimate reasoning for all this found in vs. 32. “This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”
Remember last week, I emphasized how Jesus, despite what seems to be out-of-control situations was and still is sovereign?
That despite the fact that everything seemed to be out of Jesus’ control, he was ultimately in control of everything.
What vs. 32 reiterates is that despite the fact that all control seems to be in the hands of the Sanhedrin, in the high priests, or Pilate, Jesus had already prophesied his death.
John wrote about Jesus’ impending death in John 12:32, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”
Scripture has repeatedly prophesied that the Messiah would be murdered. Consider all of Isaiah 53, which prophesies the death of the coming Messiah:
Isaiah 53, “Surely he [speaking of the Messiah] has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”
Isaiah was written roughly seven hundred years before Jesus was even born. And Isaiah was prophesying of the death of the Messiah.
Psalm 22 was written by King David, but they contain the very words that Jesus speaks as he’s crucified on the cross. Psalm 22 says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?” As David continues in Psalm 22, he says, “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads . . . I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and fee—I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
It’s no wonder then that the authors of the Gospels make it a point to emphasize when prophecies were fulfilled in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Even when it seems as if life is completely out of Jesus’ control, there’s a realization that Jesus is still in control when John points out that “this was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken.” Jesus is in complete control throughout the entirety of his trials and he’s in complete control as Pilate enters back into his headquarters to question Jesus. Read with me vss. 33-40.
Pilate Questions Jesus (33-40)
Pilate Questions Jesus (33-40)
33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
The first question that Pilate asks Jesus might seem like it comes out of no where, but remember, John doesn’t give us all the details of this trial or the trial that Jesus had with Caiaphas, but the other Gospels mention that when Jesus was tried by Caiaphas one of the accusations was that Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah.
The Jewish people had so understood the Messiah to be the one who would take up his throne immediately and rule the Israelites, that the Roman people or at least the Roman government recognized that this was a part of the Jewish belief system.
Thus, if Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah, he must think that he’s the King of the Jews and plans to reign amongst the Jewish people.
Remember, that Rome doesn’t really care if someone blasphemes against Yahweh, which is what Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin claimed Jesus was doing by claiming to be God, but if someone was claiming to compete against Caesar
With this in mind, it makes sense for Pilate’s first question to simply be, “are you the King of the Jews?” Whereas, the Jewish leadership sort of beat around the bush in the previous verses, Pilate is to the point, he’s direct.
But instead of Jesus answering him directly, Jesus counters Pilate with a question. “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”
Now, if we were thinking of this as if Jesus were the interrogator or if he was some sort of journalist, we actually gain a better understanding of why Jesus would ask this question.
When he posits this question towards Pilate, he’s essentially asking for the reasoning behind Pilate’s question—is Pilate asking because he himself wants to know or is he simply repeating what the Jewish leadership accused Jesus of?
Jesus’ question towards Pilate is one of attempting to understand whether Pilate actually wants to know the truth or if he’s simply trying to ascertain the reasons for the Jews to bring Jesus to him.
And Pilate’s response to him is a bit indignant. In vs. 35, “Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”
You can almost sense how Pilate is reacting, as if Jesus offended him by asking him for the reasoning behind his question—Pilate makes clear that he has nothing to gain or lose from Jesus being there, that Jesus is only there because the Jews sent him to Pilate for questioning.
But it’s also clear, that Pilate doesn’t really understand why Jesus is being tried either. When he asks that question, “what have you done?” he’s revealing that he doesn’t actually know why the Jewish people had sent Jesus to him in the first place.
“It seems to be less of a genuine question of seeking the facts and more of a question of why there is so much pressure to dispose of this case. The way the questioning proceeded . . . indicates that Pilate did not simply rubber stamp Jewish hostility. He did seek for some answer to this Jesus that might satisfy the logic of his judgment.” (Gerald Borchert, NAC, 241)
Jesus then responds to Pilate, but he doesn’t respond in the way that you would have expected him to. Pilate just asked him what Jesus had done, but Jesus answers his initial question “are you the King of the Jews?” But even in his response, he doesn’t specifically say that he is a king, let alone the King of the Jews. Vss. 36-38a, “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.’ Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?’” Now I realize, there’s a lot to unpack there, so let’s do just that.
Pilate asks Jesus if he is the King of the Jews, but Jesus answers the question not by affirming or denying his kingship, but by pointing out that his kingdom is not of this world.
In fact, if his kingdom were of this world, his servants would be fighting on his behalf to prevent the Jewish people from taking him, but remember, it was Jesus who prevented the disciples from fighting the guards who came to arrest him.
And remember, that this isn’t the first time that Jesus makes statements concerning his kingdom that gave the impression that he wasn’t setting up his kingdom immediately in this world—Jesus had mentioned numerous times the requirements of being born again to be a part of his kingdom, he tells his disciples that they will be hated because they “are not of the world” and that the “prince of this world” held no power over him.
If people had just listened to what Jesus was saying, they would’ve realized that his kingdom was not of an earthly nature, thus, while he is definitely the King, he isn’t king over anything that they would have considered an empire or kingdom—he is the King of a spiritual kingdom.
If his kingdom was of this world, his disciples would not have been prevented from protecting him, in fact, he would’ve permitted them to do whatever they could to save him.
But his kingdom is spiritual and its not of the world that they’re thinking of.
In fact, Jesus reiterates a point that he has made before multiple times, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
Notice that Jesus never denies being the King. In fact, he’s responding to the question in the affirmative, meaning we can actually read this verse like this, “You say [correctly] that I am a king.”
And you can see that affirmation in the way that he just spoke about his kingdom not being of this world.
Jesus doesn’t deny being a king, he simply points out that his purpose on earth at that moment wasn’t to set up his kingdom, but for him to proclaim the truth.
Jesus is the king, but his kingdom isn’t like the Roman Empire, his kingdom was different and its epitomized by the word truth.
“Since Jesus spoke of a kingdom, Pilate seized on the word ‘king.’ You are a king, then? Jesus answered that question in the affirmative, and then clarified that His kingdom is not like Rome’s. It is a kingdom of truth which overshadows all kingdoms. He said, Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (Edwin Blum, BKC, 337)
Which causes Pilate to utter a question that has been pondered for thousands of years, “What is truth?”
“Pilate wanted an acknowledgment from Jesus that he was a claimant to worldly kingship. Jesus refused to be pinned down in this way. Instead, he said he came as a witness to God’s truth, a witness to the coming kingdom of God, and informed Pilate that everyone on the side of truth listens to me. Thus he challenged Pilate to stop listening to the manufactured charges of his accusers and start listening to him. In this exchange of challenge and riposte Jesus emerged as victor and Pilate was reduced to confused.” (Colin Kruse, TNTC, 354)
This question, has been asked by philosophers and theologians for centuries, but when Pilate utters the question, the irony is in the fact that Jesus is the truth and Pilate completely misses it.
Pilate asks what truth is and abruptly, “he went back outside to the Jews and told them, ‘I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?’ They cried out again, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a robber.”
This passage ends with Pilate admitting that he could find now wrong in Jesus, but before you absolve him of wrongdoing, consider that he is the Roman governor of that specific province.
He has the right and the authority to make the decision to release Jesus, but instead of acting in integrity and allowing Jesus to go free, what does he do?
He allows the Jewish people to make the decision instead, but remember, he already knew that the Jewish people were riled up and were seeking to kill Jesus so he puts Jesus side-to-side with a man named Barabbas.
The ESV calls Barabbas a robber, but the Greek word is actually better translated as an insurrectionist or as the CSB calls him a revolutionary or a rebel—he had taken part in uprisings against Rome before, but not only was he a rebel, Luke 23 tells us that Barabbas was also a murderer.
That fact is confirmed in Acts 3:14, when Peter is speaking to the Jewish people in Solomon’s portico and he says, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life.”
Instead of acting with integrity and releasing the person that he couldn’t find fault in, he released someone who he knew was a murdered and a rebel.
Why would Pilate do this? Quite frankly, he did it out of fear of the Jewish people. We don’t see the fear yet, but as we continue in the narrative account of Jesus’ death, you’ll see the Bible specifically say that Pilate sought to release Jesus, but out of fear of the Jewish people he let the crucifixion of Jesus occur.
This shows us again, the complete corruption in the Jewish leadership and the lack of integrity from the Roman government. It shows us, yet again, that sheer amount of sin that the leaders of the Jews were willing to commit to keep their own power and authority in Jerusalem.
But coupled with what we saw in vss. 28-32, it again reminds us that despite the fact that the Jewish people thought they were in control and could do what they wanted, Jesus was still completely sovereign—he was in control of the whole situation.
Which brings us to our application for this morning. We’ve studied this morning, about Jesus’ trial with Pilate and in it, we’re again reminded of the fact that the Jewish leadership was doing illegal things to do whatever they could to kill Jesus. In this case, they made judgments against Jesus without adequate witnesses and when they bring Jesus to Pilate, they don’t even really give Pilate a reason, other than that they are not allowed under Roman law to put people to death. We see the interrogation by Pilate with Jesus and the interrogation stems around Jesus and whether he is genuinely the king of the Jews. Jesus’ response is affirmative, that he is the king, but his kingdom isn’t earthly. That the only reason that he was on earth at that moment was to fulfill his mission—to bear witness to the truth. Pilate essentially blows Jesus’ statement off by asking “what is truth,” but still seeks to release him, but the Jews choose a murderous insurrectionist instead of Jesus.
The question is, how do we apply this narrative to our lives today? And in order to gain our application, I want us to look at the text in two ways: (1) how the Jewish people act and respond through the trial and (2) what Jesus says in this trial.
Application
Application
Starting with how the Jewish people act and respond through the trial, we really see this in their statements to Pilate in vss.28-32 and their desire to have a murderer released to them in vss. 38b-40.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry on earth, it has been clear that the Jewish leadership was corrupt—to the extent that Jesus calls the Pharisees white-washed tombs—they look pretty on the outside, but on the inside, they’re filled with death.
It really shouldn’t surprise us then that since they didn’t like Jesus, that their corrupt attitude, actions, and reactions would be aimed towards him.
Their sin is against Jesus himself.
It is in their sin that they plotted against Jesus; it is in their sin that they brought Jesus to Pilate and told Pilate that they wouldn’t have brought him unless he was evil. It is in their sin that when Pilate reveals that he hasn’t found any wrong in Jesus, they choose someone who they knew was wicked instead of Jesus.
And there’s really two applications that are of note concerning how the Jewish people act and respond and their own corruption and they’re based on these two ideas: (1) sin corrupts and (2) Jesus was still in control.
Looking at the idea that sin corrupts, the application then is simple: consider your heart because sin corrupts.
Do you think that the Jewish leadership thought they were sinning during this whole ordeal? Or do you think that they were absolutely right in what they were doing?
It seems as if the Jewish people, didn’t care about whether what they were doing was right or wrong, they just cared about themselves—their power, their authority, and their ability to keep their power and authority.
But these Jewish leaders were supposed to be leading the people to worship Yahweh—what happened to them?
The same thing happened to them as happened to all the previous Jewish leaders that we read about throughout the Old Testament—they allowed their sin to corrupt them.
For instance, when the high priest Eli was confronted about his sons and their sins, how did Eli respond?
He was told that if his sons did not repent, that the LORD would judge them; and Eli responds with “let the LORD do what the LORD will do.”
Eli was the high priest and he was up to that point a good high priest, what happened?
When his sons started living lives of sin and licentiousness, instead of dealing with the problem, Eli let it continue. By letting his sons continue to live in sin, he himself entered into sin.
When he was confronted about what his sons were doing, his response is indicative of the fact that sin had seared his conscience as well. Sin had corrupted him.
Consider the book of Malachi—Malachi starts his book by recording a conversation between God and the nation of Israel. God accuses Israel of not worshiping him properly and their response is, “how are we not worshiping you properly?” We offer sacrifices, we do the rituals, and we keep the feasts.
God responds by saying that while they’re going through the motions, they aren’t doing these things according to God’s standards—they’re offering polluted offerings, and their hearts aren’t in the rituals and the feasts.
And God puts the blame on the priests initially before expanding his judgments to the whole nation. Why did the people think that they could get away with offering bad offerings and going through the motions?
Because sin had corrupted them—they were more concerned with themselves than they were with worshiping God, so they only half-heartedly worshiped God. They were going through the motions to appease God, not because they loved God.
Likewise, sin can and does corrupt you. And typically, you won’t even notice it happening until it’s far too late. Let the corruption of the Jewish leadership cause you to check your own hearts this morning.
Consider the way that you’re living life, what you say and what you do. Consider the corruption in your own life.
And then do what the Jewish people didn’t do, repent.
You might ask, how do I know if I’m responding in sin or living in sin? There’s two ways, first off, Scripture tells us what sin is, so read it. Secondly, true friends that love you ought to be keeping you accountable; they should be lovingly calling you out for your sins, and calling you to repentance.
The key here, is that when you notice that you’re sinning, you need to repent immediately—that prevents you from continuing in sin and that prevents you from growing in your sin. As Jesus tells the Pharisees, a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
That’s true about your sin as well—take seriously your spiritual life, take seriously your sin, and repent. That is your first application.
Oh, and as a minor application, consider the fact that in the midst of the Jewish leaders sinning, Jesus was ultimately still in control.
So even as you sin and continue in sin and you think you’re all in control, let me remind you:
You aren’t in control, Jesus is. And if you think you can get away with your sin and your corruption, you’re sorely mistaken.
Take seriously your spiritual life, take seriously your sin, and repent.
Your second application, comes from Jesus’ teaching while he’s interrogated by Pilate, because recognize that he is teaching as he’s answering these questions.
As Christians in modern-day America, we tend to focus on the now and that’s really a result of our consumeristic lifestyle.
We tend to only care about what’s going on in life today—so, we work to gather wealth, we build nice houses, we only think of today and what we can do today.
But Jesus’ focus isn’t on the present in vss. 32-38, Jesus’ focus is on the future, what is to come.
And his focus on the future influenced his view of the day. How do we know? Because when Jesus was being questioned by Pilate, he speaks of his kingdom.
That he is genuinely a king, but his kingdom is not of this world.
That he had a mission in the then-present that consummates in the future kingdom.
That everything that he was doing as part of his mission was for the future kingdom of God, that he’s the king of.
How should we apply this? Think of your own life.
How much of your life is focused on the now—what can you get now, what can you experience now, how can you live so you can have pleasure today?
How much of your life is focused on eternity? If you’re like me, not as much as you’d like to admit. It’s far easier to focus on today and live life as if only today matters.
But the present is only a fraction of eternity and eternity is far longer than your earthly life. Thus, wouldn’t it make more sense to focus on eternity and to live life in such a way today that focuses on eternity?
What exactly does this look like? It looks like a fundamental changing of priorities in your life.
Instead of prioritizing your comfort, your enjoyment, and your pleasure; you prioritize Jesus, worshiping him, honoring him, and glorifying him.
Instead of prioritizing your own personal time, your favorite movies or hobbies; you prioritize other people, helping them, serving them, and showing the Jesus Christ.
Instead of prioritizing your work, your career, or your lifestyle; you prioritize your family, your church, and your walk with Jesus Christ.
Living with an eternal mindset is simply asking yourself, what would effect eternity greater:
Watching the next Marvel movie or reaching out to your neighbor?
Sacrificing your time with your family for work or sacrificing your time at work for your family?
Spending your limited financial means for yourself or using it to serve your neighbor?
Going to the ball game on Sunday or going to church on Sunday?
Someone once said that every decision that you make will either point you to yourself in sin or towards God.
So for your final application, live this life with eternity in mind.
Put simply, John 18:28-40 shows us through the trial of Jesus Christ, that (1) we need to take our own spiritual lives seriously and we need to take our sins serious—we need to repent; and (2) we need to live every moment in light of eternity. Our mission is focused on eternity, not on this earth; so let’s live like it.
Take your spiritual life seriously, repent from sins and seek to remove corruption. And then seek to live every moment with eternity in mind—this is not our home, we’re just passing through.
Pastoral Prayer
Congregational Singing
Congregational Singing
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty