Sunday, October 2, 2022 PM

Alright, well good evening folks, we're going to turn our attention back to Luke chapter 23.

Luke 23, last Sunday evening we took some time to look at a particular issue that we didn't have time to get into on the

Sunday morning, and so we took a little break from Luke 23 but we're going to return to it now and remind ourselves of this story of Christ on trial.

And we are looking in the text, and you may think of these three features of the story,

Christ's accusers and how they act, also Christ and the authorities, how is he relating to the authorities, and ultimately we should think about his answer, how he personally responds to his accusers and the authorities who are hearing these accusations and putting him on trial.

Let me pray for us and then we'll read this portion of Luke 23.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the time you have afforded us here tonight, what a joy it is to gather together in unity with my brothers and sisters.

Thank you for the clarity of your word and how you instruct us and guide us and help us as we look at your word to think of your son

Jesus Christ. And it's in his name that we pray for all these things, amen. Alright, so Luke 23, beginning in verse 1.

Then the whole multitude of them arose and led him to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying,

We found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that he himself is

Christ the king. Then Pilate asked him, saying, Are you the king of the

Jews? So he answered him and said, It is as you say. So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd,

I find no fault in this man. But they were the more fierce, saying,

He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.

When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the man were a Galilean. And as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had desired for a long time to see him, because he had heard many things about him, and he had hoped and hoped to see some miracle done by him.

Then he questioned him with many words, but he answered him nothing. And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him.

Then Herod, with his men of war, treated him with contempt and mocked him and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate.

From that very day, Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other.

Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, said to them, You have brought this man to me as one who misleads the people.

And indeed, having examined him in your presence, I have found no fault in this man concerning those things of which you accuse him.

No, neither did Herod. For I sent you back to him, and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by him.

I will therefore chastise him and release him. For it was necessary for him to release one of them at the feast.

And they all cried out at once, saying, Away with this man and release to us Barabbas, who have been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in the city and for murder.

Pilate, therefore wishing to release Jesus again, called out to them, but they shouted, saying,

Crucify him, crucify him. Then he said to them the third time,

Why, what evil has he done? I have found no reason for death in him. I will therefore chastise him and let him go.

But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that he be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed.

So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested. And he released to them the one they requested, who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison.

But he delivered Jesus to their will. So, last time we were reading this chapter, we thought about Christ and his accusers.

We considered the false accusations that they made, how they lied, how they changed their story from their own little trial that they put on at the property, the home of the chief priests, and how they changed their tune and came up with new charges when they brought him before Pilate.

And we considered the nature of those false accusations. We also considered how their accusations failed to be persuasive to the governing authorities,

Pilate and Herod, and ultimately they resorted to forcible agitation.

When their lies about Christ would not work, when their false accusations would not work, then all they were left with was just being really, really loud and threatening to cause all manner of chaos if they didn't get their way.

And so we've seen this behavior in two -year -olds, and we've seen it in the streets of our nation, and we see that it's nothing new, for here the accusers of Christ employ the very same tactics of rage and rebellion.

Well, here we also have Christ and the authorities. We see the accusers, but what about Christ and the authorities?

How did they see him? How did they relate to him? How did they handle the situation that was brought to them?

Obviously, if Pilate could have it his way, he would have never been presented with this problem in the first place.

He didn't want this issue. And then we see Herod had a little bit different type of approach, but both certainly fell short.

Well, the first thing that we see in the relationship between Christ and the authorities is that Pilate cleared him.

He cleared him of any wrong. He says he couldn't find anything wrong with him.

Verse 4, he says, I find no fault in this man. If you're accusing him, I've investigated,

I've interrogated, and I don't see what the problem is here. Based on my interactions with him and based on what you're saying, these things don't match up.

It seems like you're the one causing the problem. I can't find any fault in this man. And he thought that he had a way out when he heard that Jesus was a

Galilean, so he was like, oh, okay, we'll just send it over to Herod. Maybe I can get out of this jam, you know.

But he could not find any fault in him. And then later on, when Jesus is brought back,

Pilate is thinking, surely they can see the difference between a rebel, an insurgent, a murderer, and this

Jesus of Nazareth. Surely they'll see the contrast here, and they'll request that Jesus be released and that we take care of the murderer and the insurgent.

But they refuse and they want Christ to be crucified. And in verse 22, again,

Pilate clears him. He says, why? Why do you want to crucify him? What evil has he done?

I have found no reason for death in him. Obviously, you're upset with him, but I have found no fault in him.

And of course, he says even earlier in verse 14, again, he says,

I found no fault in this man concerning those things of which you accuse him. So three times, three times,

Pilate clears Jesus. And yet, he was not released.

He was not released. Obviously, because Pilate caved to the pressure of the mob.

In the Old Testament, in the case law of the Old Testament, you remember the back story of how

Moses was trying to handle all the problems of Israel at once. And his father -in -law Jethro saw that and said, you're going to kill yourself, son.

Here's what you do. You have the people appoint for themselves judges.

And out of ten men, they appoint a judge who they respect, who's a man who has a good reputation, good integrity, who can handle the issues that crop up between these ten households.

He's going to deal fairly with the issue. If it's too tough for that kind of level, then it's going to go up to somebody who's over, you know, more, you know, 50, 100, and so on and so forth.

And it's only the really, really big issues that you're going to have to deal with, Moses. And this is where we have developed our own tiered justice system and the court system of the

United States was based upon that Levitical case law in the Old Testament. But the instructions given to those who served as judges, you know, were very important.

What if you're just a small town judge and you are sitting at the city gate because you're retired and you're there as a city elder and you're a judge and two of your neighbors come in and they've got a dispute.

And one of them is wealthy and one of them is poor. Well, the Mosaic case law says you don't side with the rich guy because you know he'll benefit you in the long run.

And you don't side with the poor guy just because you, you know, you're always sticking up for the underdog. So, you have to judge justly, righteously, whatever the truth of the matter is.

And appended to those instructions are also instructions about not being swayed by a mob.

Don't let the, don't let a group of people who want you to rule one way versus another way persuade you into saying something that isn't true.

See, God knows our hearts. He knows our frame. He knows that we are prone, we are prone to make unjust decisions because of those types of influences.

And here Pilate makes a very unjust ruling ultimately after clearing Jesus three times and yet he caves to the pressure of the mob.

Now, it's interesting that at the beginning of Luke's gospel we are reminded of how everything was done just right with Jesus, right?

Born of a virgin, circumcised the eighth day, his parents offering the sacrifice that was required of the law, everything was done just right.

The law was kept completely. And Jesus, throughout his ministry, what fault could any find?

Whoever found fault with Christ, a legitimate fault. Now, many people got angry, didn't they?

Many people were offended. You remember, recall on one instance Jesus told a parable and said a few things and then the disciples took him aside later on and said,

I think you offended them. I think they're pretty upset. And indeed we read about how the religious leaders conspired together to have

Jesus killed. And we're often trying to construct scenarios in which they could blame him for the way that he acted or what he said in order to get him in trouble with various authority figures.

But nobody could ever find fault with him. Not even at his trial.

Not even at this critical point. No fault could be found in him.

Of course, this is a message of hope. He indeed is the spotless lamb of God.

Nobody could find a fault with him. He indeed had no flaw.

He had no sin. He knew no sin. This is what makes him God's lamb. He who knew no sin would be made sin on our behalf.

This is emphasized here at his trial. Just prior to his death. His innocency.

His perfection as our suffering servant. Our king.

He is king by his perfect suffering. And you know, he's still faultless.

Isn't he? He's still faultless. Many people still today rage and scream and foam at the mouth and cast accusations at Christ and reject his rule.

And indeed, as we consider the fact that he is king of kings and lord of lords and has all authority, that he governs us as a good king, as he is the head of the church, he's the head of each one of our families, as he's my savior and my lord, and I bow the knee directly to him.

In all these areas, he's the one who has authority. So, I really ought not complain.

Really. I shouldn't complain. There's no fault in him.

He's good. He is a good master. He is a good shepherd.

He is a good lord. I really ought not complain. He is as faultless as ever.

Well, Pilate cleared him three times, and Herod was curious. Herod wanted to encounter

Jesus because he wanted to, as we see in the text, he wanted to see some sign done by him.

You know, show me a trick. You know, that kind of interest.

He didn't want to see Jesus because he believed on him.

It wasn't the kind of interest and excitement stirred up by blind

Bartimaeus, who knew the stories of Jesus, and when he realized that the son of David was on the road, cried out in earnest to encounter

Christ. Now, Herod's interest was one of just mere curiosity, kind of a novelty.

He thought of Jesus as a novelty. He heard many reports about him. He wanted to see a miracle, and we see that when

Jesus was brought before Herod, he questioned him with many words. He really put him through the ringer, trying to get some reaction out of him, but in the end was very disappointed with the results because Jesus was ultimately quiet, but what did he want to do?

He wanted to bring Jesus of Nazareth, the son of God, before him, and make him do something for him.

Now, what's that called biblically? It's called testing the

Lord. It's called testing the Lord, and what does God have to say about that?

He has a lot of negative things to say about those who put him to the test, unless, of course, he says, put me to the test.

He will call for it because he wants to show his glory and his power on his own prerogative, but those who would try to test the

Lord upon their own schedule, because of their own priorities, God has very negative things to say about that.

He declares judgment upon those. There's a difference between those who are curious and those who have faith.

There are some who have an interest and a slight attraction because, oh, this is interesting.

Oh, this is kind of nice. I'd like to kind of dabble in this, versus those who actually believe and fear the

Lord. Hebrews 6 gives us a wonderful description between those who enjoy all of the benefits of being in the spirit -filled community versus those who are actually born again.

It's not the same thing. We see that Pilate cleared him.

Herod was curious about him, but ultimately they both treated him with contempt. They both treated him with contempt.

That's the third relationship here. They had contempt for him. Herod, when he could not get

Jesus to perform for him, we read that Herod, with his men of war, treated him with contempt and mocked him.

Mocked him. Because you won't perform upon my command, that must mean that you're illegitimate and a fake.

All the types of contempt and mockery that they could throw at him. They did not honor him.

They did not fear God. They did not fear the Lord. They mocked him.

They scorned him. They arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, not because they were honoring him, but because they were mocking him.

What a ridiculous sight they're saying. Now, of course,

Pilate, when he was trying to get out of having to turn

Christ over, we read in the other Gospels that he did follow through on his plan to chastise him.

He had him scourged. He had him whipped in order to try to satiate the bloodlust of the crowds.

And of course, it did not satisfy them. They wanted him dead. And so Pilate himself treated

Christ with contempt. But just think about this language,

Herod and his men of war, treating Jesus with contempt, mocking him, mocking and scorn, scoffing him.

What does the Bible have to say about the mocker and the scorner and the scoffer? What does that come from?

That type of approach to God, that type of approach toward his son, that type of approach to the

Lord's revelation, the scoffer, the scorner, the mocker. Yeah, it's not sourced in God.

Psalm 1 and 2 have a lot to say about that, doesn't it? We were just looking at that in Timothy school. The scoffer and the mocker.

The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. But the mocker and the scoffer look at the things of God, the things of the

Lord, and they demean it. They try to deconstruct it. They try to show it to be pointless.

They try to show it to be ridiculous. They find any way they can to try to undercut it and show how low life, low minded, and foolish and stupid anybody is who believes in these things.

When we read in Isaiah chapter 53, this parallel account of our

Lord's sufferings, in verse 1 of Isaiah 53, it says,

Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. Remember Jesus the

Nazarene, Jesus of Nazareth from Branchtown, and as a root out of dry ground.

He has no form or comeliness, and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him, and he is being treated with contempt.

You know, Jesus was treated with contempt in his ministry as he taught, as he did miracles, and he told his disciples that they so treated the master, don't be surprised when they treat you the same way.

But it's coming from a position of rebellion, it's coming from a position of rejection of God, it's coming from a place of a total lack of the fear of the

Lord. So we see contempt from the authorities, although the authorities may say, well, you know, the authorities say, well, you really didn't do anything wrong.

The authorities may be somewhat curious, but it's also going to be contempt. Remember Jesus said how they treat the master is how they're going to treat the followers.

Jesus said to his disciples, you're going to go forth and you're going to preach the gospel of the kingdom and you're going to run into the authorities.

They may be Jewish authorities and they'll bring you into the synagogue. They may be Gentile authorities and they'll bring you before kings and before their courts.

But one way or the other, you're going to be confronted by the authorities and now they treated the master, they're going to treat you as well.

And this basic approach is held up through the generations of the followers of Christ.

How often there's been a recognition that, you know, these

Christians aren't really doing anything necessarily wrong, but nonetheless, there's contempt.

Nonetheless, there's opposition. There might be some degree of curiosity, but there's definitely not a lot of buy -in.

You're on the loose. You're on the loose. Thanks for visiting.

Well, the fourth thing we see in the relationship between Christ and the authorities is conspiracy.

And we read verse 12, that very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other. For previously they had been an enmity with each other.

Now notice that there wasn't a conspiracy beforehand, some sort of organized cabal where these evil people are getting together and hatching evil plans.

Oh no, they don't have to be that organized. All manner of inept, disorganized, bumbling people could be in conspiracy against Christ because they all have the same father.

They still have the same evil desires, the same type of contempt for the

Lord. They become friends. Pilate and Herod became friends because they both hated this whole situation about Christ.

In their contempt for Christ, they bonded. Now they're friends. That's a unifying force for political enemies.

It's remarkable dynamics that you find in the book of Acts.

We're going to see that as the disciples of Jesus go forward and preach the gospel, they challenge the legitimacy of the

Jewish leaders in various towns. They get jealous because they see the people turning away from their authority and their power and turning to follow

Christ. They see this as a threat to them. So they report disruption of peace and order to the

Roman authorities of whatever town they live in to get the Christians arrested. And it's the

Jews who are causing the stir, but they're saying it's because of these people over here and the

Romans are like, we don't want any disturbance around here. And so they persecute the

Christians because the Jews said they started it. That's going to be a pattern over and over in the book of Acts.

Well, where did that pattern start? It started with Christ. This is the false accusations that they make.

The Jews go to the Roman authorities and say he's a troublemaker. Take him out. And if you won't, then we'll cause such a ruckus that we'll force you to.

That pattern continues throughout the book of Acts and we see that cooperation between Rome and the

Jews against the saints. It happens over and over and over again. Well, that kind of cooperation between a state and a religion both opposed to Christianity happens throughout the world today.

That's a common pattern. A very common pattern. You have, for example, a current example, you have the state of Russia and the official religion of Russian Orthodoxy in opposition against Christians preaching the gospel of Jesus and wanting to meet in freedom.

Now the same thing happens in Israel. You have the state and the official religion both in great opposition to any

Christians having churches there. You can almost make this application in every single country.

In Canada, the state during the lockdowns did not want

Christians meeting together freely and they had their state approving churches who were saying it's unloving to people to meet together for church.

We're going to do digital communion and digital baptisms now. Okay? And so those who wanted to really meet and follow the commandments of the

Lord and have church together were persecuted both by the state and by the state approving religion.

The same thing happens in Malaysia where you have radical

Hindus who don't like the Christians and they cooperate with the state government to persecute

Christians, burn down Christian churches and so on and so forth. You can find this in all sorts of examples around the world today.

The pattern is just something that repeats. Now, again, these folks are not meeting in dark rooms, you know, smoke -filled rooms and plotting out their schemes.

But the conspiracy, remember, we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and world forces of this darkness.

Let's remember who we're fighting and who gives us the victory. Now, the last connection between Christ and the authorities is simply the corruption that is exposed when he shows up.

Pilate doesn't know how to handle it. Herod doesn't know how to handle it. And when

Christ is on trial and these authorities are being faced with the mob raging, they respond, their solution is very corrupt.

They do not accomplish justice. So, Pilate, notice, because they're yelling and screaming, crucify him, crucify him.

Verse 23, they were insistent demanding with loud voices that he be crucified and the voices of these men and the chief priests prevailed.

They yelled the loudest and so they changed what it meant for the law to function because they yelled louder than anybody else.

Sounds familiar. So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested and he released to them the one they requested who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison but he delivered

Jesus to their will. So imagine this. This mob shows up and from the beginning they say, you need to crucify this man,

Jesus of Nazareth. And Pilate, well, for what reason should we crucify this man?

Well, he's claiming to be a king. He's being an usurper, right? And in John, they say, we have no king but Caesar, right?

Hey, we're loyal citizens of the empire here. And you should be too, Pilate.

And because he's claiming to be a king, he's an usurper and he needs to be crucified.

And then when he says, I don't really think that's going to cut it. They say, no, no, no, you don't understand. He is stirring up the people, right?

Not only is he an usurper, but he's fomenting an insurgency here teaching throughout all

Judea beginning from Galilee to this place. And so their point was, he's stirring up the entire region, the entire region,

Pilate, that you're responsible for, for keeping the peace. Throughout that whole region, this usurper is stirring up things and creating an insurgency.

That was their claim. That was their charge. That was their false accusation. Well, they abandoned that after a while just for, you know, just yelling a bunch.

And at the end of it, when it was the custom of Pilate to release to them one prisoner at this occasion, a kind of, you know, the mercy of Rome.

Okay. Who do they ask to be released? An insurgent leader who was stirring up the people and he himself was guilty of murder.

That's who they asked to be released to them. So do you see the absurdity of what happens here in this story?

And it just exposes the absolute corruption of the authorities.

Christ just exposes that. What does the, what does the

Bible tell us about mob rule? Run.

Yeah. We are, we are warned against. Now you probably don't think of this as mob rule, but think of it this way.

We are not to be tossed to and fro by every new wind of doctrine. Well, where are those winds of doctrine coming from?

Just check social media. All right. Just check what everybody's saying all at once.

When everybody's, when it seems like everybody is saying the same thing at once all of a sudden that they weren't saying before.

Don't be tossed to and fro. Ask God for wisdom.

Stand upon the word of God. Fear the Lord. Don't get tossed to and fro by every new roar coming from the mob.

Well, Christ's answer is very simple. When Pilate says, are you the king of the Jews? He says, you said it.

Your words. That'll do. King of the Jews. Now, Pilate didn't understand what that meant.

The people who were accusing him didn't really understand what that meant. But Jesus is simply claiming that he's

Messiah, even though he knows that the people he's talking to don't understand.

They don't get it. Like with his parables. Some were given eyes to see and ears to hear and some were not.

Some were going to understand, some were not. But his answer is just very, very simple.

He's not being complex and he's certainly not throwing pearls before swine. And when he's interrogated by Herod, he just is quiet, silent.

Now, what is the silence of God in Scripture? It's judgment.

That's right, it's judgment. Christ is passing sentence on Herod, even while Herod's trying to pass sentence on him and failing.

He's just silent. I'm not going to give you anything. Even as he does with this perverse generation, he says, when they keep on demanding a sign over and over and over again, show us another miracle or show us another sign.

He says, no, we're done. The only sign you're going to get is the sign of Jonah. Silence.

And then ultimately, as we see what goes on here, the mob is out of control.

You know, nobody can control them.

They're just all over the place. Pilate is not in control. He can't keep them from doing what they want to do.

He doesn't know what to do. He sends it to Herod. Herod is powerless. He can't get anything out of Jesus. All he can do is just kind of mock him and send him back.

Nobody knows what to do. But we understand from the story of the

Bible who's in charge here. God's in charge. The father is in charge.

And he has ordained this for his son to be put on trial and exposed in this way.

These things were not done in a corner. God has set forth his only begotten son as the savior for the world.

And this was all according to the plan of God. Jesus always was saying he was submitting to what the father wished, what the father desired.

He would do what the father willed him to do. He would say what the father wanted him to say.

And so ultimately when we see Jesus speaking simply here and being silent as a lamb taken to slaughter, what we see in Jesus' response is simply submission.

That is ultimately his answer is that he's submitting to the will of the father. And in this, not only do we have our example, but ultimately in Christ's perfect submission to the father, we have our salvation.

So praise the Lord. All right, well let's close together by singing the doxology.