Transcript

Let’s go to Luke 22. Luke 22. We’re in the final, really, hours now of the Lord’s ministry before the cross. He has been in the garden of Gethsemane, actually a little olive farm about an hour’s walk outside of Jerusalem and there he had that council with God the Father where he and the Father wrought out the final plans for redemption and there in that moment, God the Father’s will was settled, it had been settled, and God the Son’s will to obey the Father’s will was just as settled. He gets up from his prayer; he goes back to his disciples; men approach him with torches; Judas Iscariot betrays him; identifies him with a kiss; he is delivered over to the hands of the guard or officers of the Jewish high court called the Sanhedri, and they have taken him into custody.

A couple of things before we look at this together. As we look at this, the trial of Jesus or Jesus on trial. I forgot, tell me which way I entitled that. Go ahead and pop it up there, brother. Jesus on trial. As we look at that, there are a couple of things that I want to say. First of all, the story, the narrative is gripping as we think about the Son of God and our Savior and Lord being so vilely and cruelly handled and abused, but in a sense I want to give you permission to joy in this because we know from what’s already been said and taught by Jesus, we know from the balance of biblical truth, that here we see the Father’s predetermined plan in all of its power and wisdom and glory unfolding. So there is a part of us that rejoices in the strength of God as even the wickedness of men cannot but even fulfill his divine plan.

I’m going to read it a section at a time because we’re going from chapter 22 of Luke, verse 63, through chapter 23, verse 25. I hope your oven has an automatic cutoff. I. The pretrial mockery and battery. Chapter 22, verses 63 through 65.

63 Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking Him and beating Him,

This is at the Sanhedrin’s court, if you will, the Jewish high court’s imprisonment area, whatever they called it. I don’t know. This was happening in verse 64,

64 and they blindfolded Him and were asking Him, saying, “Prophesy, who is the one who hit You?” 65 And they were saying many other things against Him, blaspheming.

Verse 63 says they were holding Jesus. Immediately we’re struck with the irony of that. The omnipotent being held by weak and wicked hands? It does grieve the soul to think of the sinless holy Lord Jesus being handled by the filthy hands of wicked sinners. Something in our heart cries, “Stop this! This cannot be!” And then we remember, again, that we too are the defilers. Our sin, the Bible says, put him on the cross. It was because of our filthiness that he in love for us might become handled as filthy so that we would become clean and pure and blameless.

The text says in verse 63 they are mocking him and beating him. Over and over we see these soldiers and his accusers railing and reviling at him. You see, they can’t win the argument. If any reason or scriptural authority is honestly and intelligently discussed, he’s completely innocent. So since they have no argument, they just will not have argument, they will not have discussion, they’ll just rant and rail and rave until they have pushed their bullyings on him and get their way. They see Jesus at this point as wounded and vulnerable. These cowards pile on when they’re sure that they have the advantage. The Greek here means a severe beating. This wasn’t a mild thing. In the history of time, there has never been a greater injustice. Again, our hearts ache as we contemplate the perfect Son of God being literally beaten to a bloody pulp and at the hands of brazen sinners. Then we remember, it was the lash of our own transgressions for which he was punished. Isaiah 53:5 prophesied of this and said he was crushed for our iniquities. Not his own wrong. Behind it all is the sovereign mind of an omnipotent God and God the Father had determined for the well-being of the children that his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, would be crushed for their iniquities.

For these cruel men, the wheels of justice just turned too slow. They’re not going to wait for the trial. He is being held overnight in the Sanhedrin court and they want to punish him. They have him in the halls of justice but even before a trial, they make the halls of justice into an arena of brutality and Jesus stays meek before his accusers. Isaiah 53:7 prophesied of this, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth ;Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.” His meek submission speaks to his infinite love for sinners. Van Doren wrote and I quote, “In all this rage of man and hell, his faithful heart was as a dove with the olive branch high above the flood.” That’s the pretrial mockery and beating.

II. Now in verses 66 through 71 of chapter 22,

66 When it was day, the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their council chamber, saying, 67 “If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe; 68 and if I ask a question, you will not answer. 69 “But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” 70 And they all said, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “Yes, I am.” 71 Then they said, “What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”

This is his trial before the Jewish high court. Verse 66 again there, day is coming, they’re leading him away to the chamber. Then in verse 67 they ask him, “If you’re the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not answer.” He’s basically saying, “You’ve heard me many, many times. You’ve heard my doctrine. You’ve heard my claims. You’ve heard my teaching and you never believe it so if I tell you the truth, you’re not going to believe it. You haven’t believed it yet. What’s going to change today?” This forces them, in effect, to a public admission of repeatedly rejecting both Christ and his doctrine, thus deepening their guilt. But here, again, you and I are made to remember that we also are Christ rejectors at heart and we would have no place for Jesus Christ in our hearts if it wasn’t for grace. Grace doesn’t just give you the opportunity, grace changes you to embrace what’s right. Grace enabled us to see the treasure that Christ is, the Savior that he truly is. We are guilty just as these men are guilty and in divine irony, all of our guilt was laid on him that we might become not guilty before God. Verse 67, “‘If You are the Christ, tell us.’ But He said to them, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe.'” He has claimed to be Christ. He continues to claim to be Christ. Actually, what they’re trying to get out here, if they can get him to speak the words, then they can publicly condemn him of blasphemy, a crime worthy of execution.

Jesus further said, “and if I ask a question, you will not answer.” Now, again, you always see this in God hating revilers. They don’t want to speak and discuss with some kind of respect for differing opinions. They will always try to crush the words and the arguments of the righteous. We see that all over our culture today. I was watching a television program the other day where a man who believed the biblical view of marriage and a woman who believed in gay and lesbian marriage, and every time the man with the biblical view, he was kind, he was compassionate, he was mild in tone, but they just would not let him speak. He would start speaking and they would just start screaming and yelling against him. It’s always been this way. It always will be this way.

Then in verse 69 Jesus says something quite interesting. He said, “If I tell you, you’re not going to believe me. If I ask you a question, you won’t answer the question honestly. But,” verse 69, “from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” So in reply he, in effect, says, “You know, what do you think about this answer? My destiny is not in your hands. You think you’ve got me. You have arrested me at night. I’m in your custody. I’m before you as an accused criminal but my destiny is not in your hands. In fact, next on my heavenly Father’s agenda is for me to be exalted above all others, even to the right hand of the Father. Now, how does that answer your question?” That was a strong cutting statement he makes back to these guys. You see, they were trying to remove his influence in Israel and he’s basically saying, “I’m not only going to be a great influencer in Israel, I’m about to be the final authority over heaven and earth.”

Verse 70, “And they all said, ‘Are You the Son of God, then?’ And He said to them, ‘Yes, I am.'” So they’re saying, “Look, you’ve really made yourself out to be equal to God. Are you saying you are the Son of God, equal to God?” Now, it’s interesting to me that throughout the ages classic liberalism and theological circles or secular circles, for that matter, have rejected the deity of Jesus Christ. They want to dumb Jesus down to just a good new starting point for the human race; one who embraces and commends everyone if they’re sincere about their beliefs, whatever it might be, all of this nonsense, but they’ll say he didn’t really claim to be God. Well, here Jesus makes it unequivocally clear again as he has many other times, “I am equal to God.” What a statement.

These Jewish authorities knew the Old Testament text but they always seemed to miss its message. They knew that Jesus was, in effect, applying to himself the doctrine of Daniel 7:13. The Bible says in Daniel 7:13, “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man,” that’s the phrase, “was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him.” He said, “I am that one.” That’s what he’s basically saying. These Jews knew what he was saying. “I’m the one. The promised Messiah. God incarnate. I’m the one.” Jesus, I think, at this point could clearly see, of course, their conscience was condemning them.

Now, when Jesus responds in verse 70 saying, “Yes, I am. Yes, I am the Son of Man. Yes, I am the Son of God,” Jesus is giving, I think, here the finest example of manly courage and of manly fidelity. He knows what this is going to cost him. He lashed himself to the truth and put no thought to the consequences. This admission will cost him his life. Someone said and I want you to think on this phrase, “Life is a debt all believers owe to the truth.” Let me say that again, “Life is a debt all believers owe to the truth.” Jesus is our example. We never shun duty in the face of peril. The threats of enraged men must not seal our lips. Jesus said in Matthew 10:32-33, “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” And the Bible goes further to say that Christian confession includes identifying with God’s true people. We see that in Matthew 25 when in the context of latter day persecution, people are locked in jail, people lose their jobs, people are in poverty, people are without house and clothing and he says, “Many of you fed them and welcomed them and visited them in prison which means you’re truly one of mine.” But he says, “If you did not do that to the least of these brothers of mine,” he said, “then you are not of mine.” So we’ve got to make sure that our lips and our lives are consistent, even in the face of loss and peril and persecution. Jesus is our example here.

But he made it, verse 71, “Then they said, ‘What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.'” Once again, liberalism is just hushed at the fact that there is no way in the world the Jews would come to this conclusion if Jesus didn’t claim to be God and the promised Messiah, one and the same. So he made it unmistakably clear that he claims equality with God and he claims to be God’s promised Messiah. That’s why they hated him.

III. Jesus’ trial before Pilate. He’s been arrested at night. He’s kept in the court of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high court over night. The next morning, the Sanhedrin puts him on this mockery of a trial. They know they do not have authority. They are under Roman rule. They have to get the Roman governor to sign off on the execution, so they bring him to the governor, Pilate. Verse 1 says in chapter 23 and let’s just read the section first, 23, verses 1 through 7,

1 Then the whole body of them got up and brought Him before Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.” 3 So Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And He answered him and said, “It is as you say.”

As a matter of fact, you could ask Jesus, “Are you the king of whatever?” and he’d be King. Yeah, he is uniquely the King of the Jews but he’s King of everything. Verse 4,

4 Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.” 5 But they kept on insisting, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee even as far as this place.” 6 When Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. 7 And when he learned that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem at that time.

Pilate is a Roman governor appointed by the Caesar to oversee for Rome this area of Israel. These accusers in verse 2, they accuse him of “misleading our nation.” Now, here’s what they’re really saying. When they say, “Pilate, he’s misleading our nation,” what they’re really saying is, “His teaching is exposing us as false shepherds in Israel and he is beginning to diminish our power and control over the people and we’ve got to have an end to this.” And of course, that meant almost nothing to Pilate. He wants to serve Rome and make sure he’s in the good blessings of Caesar so he can get more power and wealth and control so that doesn’t make much difference to Pilate so the Jewish religious authority, the high court of the Jews, has another accusation in verse 2, “He forbids to pay taxes to Caesar, to Rome, and he claims to be the Messiah.” Now, they thought this would mean something because obviously forbidding to pay taxes would be really big on Pilate’s list of important things and claiming to be the Messiah could mean that he’s a challenge to Caesar himself as king of the world. So they thought this might really get Pilate’s attention.

I thought what kind of lies are these? First of all, this court of Jewish high priests would have made any Jew a hero if he forbid to pay taxes to Caesar. They hated paying taxes to Caesar. What hypocrites. In fact, Jesus taught right the opposite. He startled and amazed the Jewish religious authorities when he said, “Give me a coin. Whose inscription is on this coin? It’s Caesar’s inscription. Render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s.” So they’re so twisting in the truth, coming up with whatever spin they can come up with to put Jesus in the worst possible light. So they’ve said to Pilate so far, “Under Jewish law, he’s a blasphemer. Under Roman law, he’s guilty of treason.” Of course, all of these are capital crimes. There is a lot of vile contempt in their tone when they say in verse 2, “This man. This man stirs up all this trouble. This man forbids to pay taxes to Caesar. This little nothing from Nazareth,” is what that means. You know, slanders of the righteous abound in every age. They make lots of noise. They get some following but they are impotent. How easily these accusers forget all of his undeniable, irrefutable miracles. They forget how powerful and authoritative his teaching was. They forget his countless ministries of love and compassion and mercy to the undeserving. They just want him gone.

He stands before Pilate bleeding and bruised and silent as these impish wolves rail against him. Look at verse 3, ” So Pilate asked Him, saying, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ And He answered him and said, ‘It is as you say.'” Now, the Greek scholars tell us there is no simple one word “yes” in the Greek language so they can’t just translate “yes”; they have to make a phrase, “It is as you say.” That’s their “yes.” Now, when Pilate says, “Are you the King of the Jews?” and he says, “Yes,” now, to Jews, this was holding Jesus, again, as claiming deity because the Jews claim, “Only God is our King.” So Jesus says, “I’m God. I’m him.” Again, clearly proclaiming his deity.

Verse 4, “Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, ‘I find no guilt in this man.'” As a matter of fact, three different times Pilate announces that Jesus is innocent, at least innocent of anything worthy of execution. Someone said the dazzling light of Christ’s innocence is testified to by Pilate. Now, Pilate is a hardened, brutal, ungodly man. Pilate would regularly just in brutality slaughter portions of the Jewish nation just to remind them, “I’m in charge and if you give me any trouble, you know what I can do to you.” And yet this hardened, vile man is dazzled by the reality of the brilliant innocence of Jesus Christ. He says, “I don’t see what you guys are talking about.” 1 Peter 1:19 reminds us that Jesus’ blood is precious blood, it’s unblemished, it’s spotless. Innocence, it’s the blood of Christ. While Jesus’ innocence did not need Pilate’s affirmation, Pilate yet could not deny it and yet we remembered that to be our sin bearer and become our guilt offering before the Father required him to be one of the complete blamelessness and innocence. In pure innocence he took on our guilt that we might stand holy and blameless before him in love and be declared by the heavenly Father not guilty.

Verse 6 and 7, “When Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.” That’s a district that he doesn’t have authority over, another governor does. Verse 7, “And when he learned that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem at that time.” So now we switch over. He has gone and spent the night in custody in the Jewish high court. The Jewish high court has their trial that morning. Having no authority to execute him, of course, they need the Roman governor’s pronouncement so they bring him to Pilate and Pilate says, “I’m not seeing what you’re saying he’s done so wrong.” And then to kind of get it off of his hands, he finds out he’s a Galilean, Herod is the governor of the Galilean region so he says, “Herod’s in town. He’s a Galilean and he’s technically under Herod’s jurisdiction anyway, I’m going to send him over to Herod.”

Now look at verses 8 through 12.

8 Now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus; for he had wanted to see Him for a long time, because he had been hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign performed by Him. 9 And he questioned Him at some length; but He answered him nothing. 10 And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there, [notice this again] accusing Him vehemently. [That irrational harsh railing and reviling.] 11 And Herod with his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate. 12 Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day; for before they had been enemies with each other.

Now, here’s this trial before Herod. Herod in verse 8 had been wanting, the Bible says, to see this Jesus and hear from this Jesus. Herod most likely just thought of Jesus as some powerful magician and thought, “I’m going to get him before me and I’m going to see a great show.” But Jesus will not perform any miracle for Herod. Jesus will not waste any miracle on this swine, Herod. He’s not going to cast the pearls of his greatness before this swine. Herod does not want the truth. Herod loves only himself and this world and Jesus did not stoop to worldly gimmicks or entertainments to draw a crowd or get affirmation. Yet standing before Herod on this day is the greatest miracle of all, but Herod was just too blind to see it, standing before him was God incarnate. The theologians call him the God-man, Jesus Christ. He is 100% God as if he were not man at all, at the very same time, 100% man as if he were not God at all. What a miracle that is and here is the Son of God, the Lamb of God, exposed to the depths of shame, the greatest injustice imaginable and yet he’s simply silent. Those are the miracles Herod saw on this day.

Verse 9, “And he,” Herod, “questioned Him at some length; but He answered him nothing.” So at this point Jesus is silent. He has been very, very brief in his earlier responses. The point is, Jesus is doing no teaching now. The hour has come, the time has come when he has begun the dark work of atoning for his children’s sin, and when one is diligent to perform a great work, there is no time for words. He will apply himself to the work assigned him by the Father. There’s nothing really to say.

Verse 10, “And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there, accusing Him vehemently.” Railing. Reviling. Railing. Reviling. Shouting and screaming and cutting and denouncing as if to say, “We may not have an argument but we’re going to be so strong and so persistent you’ll bow to our threats and intimidations.” Herod, possibly seeing Jesus as just a foolish fanatic and disappointed that Jesus would perform no miracle for him, decided he’d just ridicule and mock Jesus instead and this ridicule and mockery, he thought, “Well, this might help me with the Jews and we know Caesar wants the Jews to be happy and not cause trouble in the Roman Empire and so maybe I can appease the Jews and appease Caesar by just making a mockery of him.” So verse 11, “And Herod with his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe,” all mockery, “and sent Him back to Pilate.”

Now look at verse 12, the real truth here that I want you to get because it’s so true in our age, it’s true in every age, “Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day; for before they had been enemies with each other.” So here we have two people who were enemies and it was all about power and control and climbing the ladder in the Roman Empire under Caesar, and they hated each other but they came together in this quest to rid their land of this troublemaker called Jesus. And not only that, we have these secularists, Pilate and Herod, coming in partnership and in union with the religious authorities of Israel to achieve this task of coming against Christ and coming against truth, united in their opposition of Christ and of the truth. Secular heathenism might be defined today as secular progressivism and false religion uniting together against Christ. Now, these generally oppose each other. The religious establishments though not truly Christian often, and the secular authorities and the secular progressive normally would not come together but we find in this day and we find it in every age and we find it in our day, that they often come together if need be to crush the light of the truth. Whatever else Jesus’ ministry did, it exposed them and convicted them and weakened them and pointed them out as sinners and they will not have it and they’ll join arms with anybody to get that light turned off. So don’t be surprised when you increasingly hear that the pope in Rome is leaning toward more liberal views when it comes to sin concerning marriage and sexual morality. Don’t be surprised when more and more groups of Presbyterians and Methodists and Baptists and others begin to lean more toward a more progressive secular view of moral absolutes or the lack of there being moral absolutes because secular heathenism and established religion, though often against each other, will come together if necessary to oppose the truth, to oppose those who hold to Bible doctrine and its truth.

Candidates running for office of president for the first time, I believe, in our history, now you can correct me if I’m wrong, are now saying the church must change its teaching and its doctrine. That is deeply concerning. It’s one thing to say the church has its teaching and doctrine and we respect that, I have a different belief, though. That’s one thing but when you say they must change and knowing that a couple of Supreme Court justices could be elected, it’s coming. You’d better make sure what you believe and why you believe it because it’s about to cost you something because we’re going to be the bigots and we’re going to be the haters and we’re going to be the detriment to a fair and just and equitable society. That’s the way we’re going to be painted. That’s the spin that’s going to happen because no longer is it, “You have your freedom of religion but we have a different viewpoint,” now it is, “No, you’re a problem and you must change.”

Brothers and sisters, I think by God’s grace I have counted the cost and I am determined I am not changing. I do not know the cost but I do know this: we will have grace when we need it, amen? God’s grace will be there when we need it. Now, some of you are getting more gray hair and some of you are getting, is that proper grammar? Less hair. We might slip into heaven before we face a lot of this but, look, we’ve got to so build a church and help build other churches that our children and our children’s children have a place of respite, a place of refuge in this as Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, “In this perverse generation.”

But nothing has changed, has it? And you say, “Well, why are you bringing up Christian persecution and this passion of Christ…?” Yes, it is unique and it’s special. There is only one person who ever did what Jesus did, there is only one person who could go through what he went through, there is only on person who could atone for the sins of the world and that’s Jesus Christ. But Jesus said, “If they did it to me, they’ll do it to you.” Jesus said, “When you’ve done it to the least of these, my brethren, you’ve done it to me.” They hate Christ. They hate the truth. They hate the light. It exposes their sin. It exposes their vile wickedness. They want to be free to indulge in their sin and their lust and nobody condemn them or nobody confront them and eventually they will join arms with anybody to shut that out because they’re against Christ, they’re against truth, they’re against his church. And the Bible prophesies that at the end of time, there will be a great, godless, one world dictator called the antichrist and lo and behold, who is he going to unite with? A great false harlot church. A Christian entity. And together they will bring their force to bear on the rest of the earth and true believers in the true church in that day, that day of tribulation, will be greatly persecuted. So nothing changes until the King returns, then everything changes. Everything changes. So that’s pretty powerful. Pilate gets together with Herod and the Jewish Sanhedrin and say, “We’re against this. We may not like each other at all, but at least we an join hands to crush out this Christ and the truth of God.” Now, they don’t say it that way but that’s what they mean and that’s what they do.

V. Pilate finally succumbs to the pressure and I have to give Pilate some credit here for pushing for some justice for Jesus, but he ultimately fails and succumbs and delivers Jesus to their will. Look, if you will, at verses 13 through 25. He sent back to Pilate from Herod now.

13 Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him. 15 No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him.”

You have to give Pilate some credit. Verse 16,

16 Therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” 17 Now he was obliged to release to them at the feast one prisoner. 18 But they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!” 19 (He was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder.) 20 Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, 21 but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!” 22 And he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” 23 But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail.

The scowling, harsh, unrelenting reviling pronouncements against Jesus. Verse 24,

24 And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted. 25 And he released the man they were asking for [that’s Barabbas] who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he delivered Jesus to their will.

So Pilate summonses the people and this probably means that he doesn’t want just the Jewish high court, he wants as many people as he can get together to hear what he’s dealing with. He declares Jesus’ innocence again. Look at verse 15, “Nor has Herod found anything guilty deserving execution, for he sent Him back to us.” There is nothing deserving death that has been done by him. So he called the roll: Pilate, Herod, Pilate’s wife, Judas Isacriot, the thief on the cross and the Roman centurion and none of them followers of Christ but all of them declaring his innocence.

Verse 16, Pilate says, “I’ll have him punished.” We know it was a common practice in the Roman court of this day that if they didn’t have enough witnesses they would punish a guy or interrogate him with harsh punishments trying to get the truth out of him. He said, “I’ll do that much.”

Verse 17, the Bible says, “but he was obliged,” we don’t know where this custom came from but during the annual feast of the Passover, in order, again, to appease the Jews and try to keep peace in this part of the Roman Empire, they would release one Jewish prisoner.

Verses 18 and 19, “But they cried out all together, saying, ‘release for us Barabbas!’ (The one who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and for murder.) ” So here as these Jews and now the mob, if you will, reject the chief cornerstone and let the murderer live. They let the murderer live, Barabbas, and the Prince of Life was to die. You know, this is the world’s verdict. It’s always been the world’s verdict. Give us the wicked, we reject the righteous one. The world always prefers sin over Christ and so would our hearts had he not affected our hearts. “We want sin,” they cry out. “We want no one to stand in our way of enjoying the lust of our own hearts,” and they’re basically saying, “We’ll cause you so much grief and so much trouble that finally you will give in to what we want. Barabbas doesn’t convict us. Barabbas doesn’t make us cause to think about the consequence of our own doing. Barabbas doesn’t call us into question about our motives and our behavior. We’ll take Barabbas. The Galilean must die.”

Verse 24, “And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted.” That’s why Peter preached on the day of Pentecost in Acts 3:14, “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.”

Verse 25, “And he,” Pilate. We’ve given him some credit. He looked genuinely intent on trying to release Jesus who he was convinced was innocent, but he “released the man,” Barabbas, “they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he delivered Jesus to their will.” Now, here again as we see in modern culture, as we see in past culture, as we saw in this culture – listen to me – we see the sad triumph of persevering wickedness. The United States of America is today witnessing the sad triumph of persevering wickedness. They just don’t let up. They just don’t stop. Pilate thought that by denying Jesus justice he would gain some popularity and escape the ruin that having a mob erupt of violence in Jerusalem would cause him so Pilate, as I’ve said in a sermon long ago, Pilate’s colors are yellow and more yellow. He is the quintessential pragmatist, a typical politician. “I believe this. Uh-oh, the majority moves. Well, I believe this now.”

Then verse 25, what an amazing statement, the very last part. Don’t miss this: he delivered him over to their will. What a statement. Jesus delivered to their will? You know, man centered religion down through the ages always demands that Jesus be delivered over to their will. We want to shape Jesus into the kind of Savior we want him to be. We want to shape him into an image that makes us comfortable. We want to make him relevant to the modern age. Look, Jesus doesn’t need any help. The Bible says he is a lion. All you need is to just release him, he’ll take care of himself. And when we faithfully preach him, we release Jesus and he’ll do his work. I’m telling you, it is blasphemous and abhorrent all the things so many do today to try to make Jesus and his doctrine acceptable to this modern culture. Preach him. Teach him. Proclaim him. Love him. Treasure him. He will do his work. He needs not your help.

But they want their will with Jesus. He was delivered to their will, though, only because this fulfilled the Father’s will that we might one day truly have a free will and embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior. You see, all men come into this world with a limited will. There is no such thing as a free will. You’re only free within your nature. A kitty cat is not free to act like a pig. It’s not in their nature. They don’t have the freedom to do that. It’s not the way they’re made. And we come into this world speaking lies. We come into this world with our Father as the devil. We come into this world loving sin and self, not God. The only freedom we have is within the confines of our nature, our fallen sin nature. It is Christ and the work of God in our hearts that enables us to begin having a truly free will to choose to embrace him. So the Father allowed Pilate to deliver Jesus over to their will and their will is to have him crucified which was truly a fulfillment of the Father’s will that we could be saved and have a new true will to choose to love and serve him.

1833, I believe that’s right, there was a split in Baptists in America. A small group split off of our forefathers and a small group that split off of our forefathers over the doctrine of free will, of the doctrine of man’s will and they kept saying, “We’re not comfortable with your Calvinistic and Reformed teaching. We’re going to split off and form a denomination that puts a great amount of responsibility and a great amount of merit on man’s salvation to man’s will to choose and decide.” That group became the free-will Baptist denomination. We came from the other line of Baptists. Now, you can’t compare that to modern Baptists because most modern Baptists are just atheological, they don’t know what they believe. They just don’t know doctrine at all. But, friends, the reality – now by the way, there are some good brothers and sisters in free-will Baptist churches. I disagree with them on some points of doctrine that are important but they love Jesus, a lot of them, so don’t think we’re saying they’re all off track, only on a point or two. But in reality, friends, the only being in the universe with a truly free will is God and he’s free to do as he wants, the way he wants, when he wants, where he wants, with whomever he wants for his own glory. It’s amazing how so many people want men to have free will but don’t want God to have any. Is God free to predestine us? Is God free to elect? Is God free to be God? “No, he can’t do that!” What do you mean? You’re free but he’s not?

But God with his free will has chosen to crucify his own Son that he might save many through his Son and when we are regenerate because we are purchased by the precious blood of Christ, then within us is the seed, the beginning of a true free will and so we begin to start treasuring him. We begin to start seeing him as lovely. We begin to start seeing him as all-wise and all-powerful. And the older we grow and the more we progress and the more we grasp his word, he becomes more of a treasure and more lovely and more wonderful because we’re beginning to exercise the freedom to embrace something radically contrary to our natural will. And one day we get to heaven and the seed blossoms into full maturity and all of our will is now free to love and treasure him, which brings us immense and increasing pleasures for all eternity.

So here you have it. Pilate succumbs to the pressure. He delivers Jesus over to their will and to crucifixion. One concluding thought. Don’t rustle around. Listen to me: as was true with Judas Iscariot, he chose to betray Christ; as was true with the chief priest and the Jewish high court who decided to reject Christ and purposed to destroy him; as was true with Pilate, the governor of Judea who for political expedience and self-preservation decided to reject the claims of Jesus Christ; as was true with Herod, the governor of Galilee who for pride and unwillingness to yield chose to reject Christ, so it is true for you. Their hour came and your hour has come. You must decide to receive or reject Christ. There is no compromise position. Their hour came. When they met Christ, they saw him, they heard him, they decided. And this is your hour. You can’t escape it. It’s over. It’s done. You’re here. You’ve heard it. It’s your hour. You must decide either bow before him receiving him as Lord and Savior, or reject him and soon face him in judgment. But do not be duped into delusion: your hour has come. Every one of you will leave this auditorium either a Christ receiver or a Christ rejecter. Which one will it be? John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” And Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, “He who is not with Me is against Me.” Which will it be? You’re deciding now and for me th and I challenge all of the other believers here, let’s just make this morning the 1,999 time we say, “Jesus, I receive you again.” Not that you didn’t before but that’s what Christianity is. It’s not just, “Boom, I did that at 12,” it’s, “That’s something I live. I constantly throw myself on Jesus as my Savior and as my Lord.” He is my all in all.

Let’s bow in prayer together.