FBC Morning Light (11/16/2024)

Faith Baptist Church

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Good Saturday morning, people of faith.

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This morning, or this weekend, we have passages from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all with the parallel passages regarding Jesus before Pilate and then his crucifixion.

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And we're going to look mainly in John today and look at Jesus before Pilate.

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And I'm going to start in John chapter 18 and verse 28. It says,

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Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium, and it was early morning.

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Now, Jesus has been before the Sanhedrin at an illegal trial.

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He did not open his mouth, even though the accusations against him were false. He was completely innocent, and yet he didn't defend himself.

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And in all of this, of all the things that Jesus did, this is maybe one of the most difficult things for myself to understand.

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I know that for myself, I tend to defend myself even when I am indefensible.

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I still try to come up with a defense for myself. But Jesus, being completely innocent, did not open his mouth and was railroaded through the illegal trial, and then now he is being brought before Pilate.

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And so Pilate in verse 29 says, Went out and said,

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What accusation do you bring against this man? They answered and said to him,

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If he were not an evildoer or a criminal, we would not have delivered him up to you.

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So trust us, Pilate, he's a bad guy, is what they're saying. Then Pilate said to them,

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You take him and judge him according to your law. And then the Jews said to him, It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.

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All right, that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke signifying by what death he would die, that he would die on a cross, that he would be crucified.

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So now Pilate, so the Jews couldn't do that. So they had to have the

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Romans execute him. So then in verse 33, it says,

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Then Pilate entered the praetorium again, called Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the

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Jews? Jesus answered him, Are you speaking for yourself about this? Or did others tell you this concerning me?

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Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me.

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What have you done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world.

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If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the

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Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here. Pilate therefore said to him,

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Are you a king then? And Jesus answered, You say rightly that I am a king.

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For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, so that I should bear witness to the truth.

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Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. And so there's clearly two groups of people.

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There's people who hear his voice and there's people who do not hear his voice. And so those that hear his voice are ones who will be of the truth, right?

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And Pilate here reveals his cynical nature in his response.

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He says, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again to the

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Jews and said to them, I find no fault in him at all.

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Now my human side looks at that question of Pilate and in his cynicism,

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I oftentimes want to jump into that scene and say, Hey, Pilate, here's some truth for you.

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This man that stands before you is no mere man. He is the

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Son of God. He is the creator of all things. He is the sustainer of life. And yet here you are, and you are about to condemn him to death on the cross as a favor to the

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Jews. That's the truth. And you're going to have to live with that the rest of your life.

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So, here we have Jesus as an example to us of how to respond to these accusations.

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And he responds with truth. He doesn't come out and defend himself to try to get him exonerated.

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He says the truth and yet is willing, and we're told in Hebrews that he endured the cross for the joy that was set before him.

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And we, hopefully, as followers of the truth, hear his voice and will follow his example.

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Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son to live that life that fulfilled the law to go to a gruesome death on the cross on our behalf that we might enjoy life with you.

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It's in your Son's name, Jesus, we pray. Amen. Have an excellent day.