Kingdoms Collide (John 18:28-40 Jeff Kliewer)

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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org Kingdoms Collide

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I want to welcome you all. It was an amazing time last night, a fellowship with our dinner.
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We had over 90 people were here last night. It was a great time of food.
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I wanted to say thank you to the women and the men who cooked, a huge army that stayed afterwards to help set this up, but it was just an amazing time of fellowship.
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It was good to get together like that. I'm going to open us up with a scripture, for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.
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We live in a life, we live here on the earth, and we experience this thing that we would call love.
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We have it in various forms. I can think of what it's like in family.
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We have our parents, we love them. We have our children, we love them. Grandchildren, we have siblings.
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We have our church family, we love them. How much greater is
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God's love? To know that when we have bowed the knee, when we have professed
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Christ, when we have turned to him by his grace through faith, that love that we get to experience is something the rest of the world can never really understand.
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They try to place other things in its place, but how great, how high, as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is the love of God towards those who fear him.
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So I had to think about what does it mean to fear him? I just want to say that I think there are two things that are appropriate in this realm.
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One is that we surrender to the sovereignty of God. We don't make ourselves what we're not.
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We surrender to the sovereignty of God. The second thing is we accept his sovereignty in all aspects of our life.
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When that becomes the motive and that becomes the way that we approach our life, we are opening ourselves up to experiencing this love that is so great and so majestic.
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It's God's love towards us. Surrender to him. Be bathed in his love.
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We have some announcements. I'm going to try to be as quick as I can, but we got a lot of stuff coming on.
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First things that are on the calendar in two weeks on the 3rd of December is our congregational meeting.
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It will be after the second service and it will be to discuss the calling of our new associate pastor.
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Please stay after second service and come for that meeting if you're a member.
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Even if you're not a member, please come. It's an important and exciting time that we'll get together.
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Towards the end of December on the 24th, it's Christmas Eve. It falls on a
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Sunday this year. We're just letting you know in advance our schedule. We are going to have the normal 9 o 'clock, 1045 worship services, and then our candlelight service will be at 4 o 'clock in the afternoon.
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We'll keep you posted on that. In a couple of weeks on a Saturday, something's happening.
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John and Janet would like you to know that everybody in the church is invited to hear, to witness, to be part of the celebration here at the church.
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I believe it's going to be at 11 o 'clock on Saturday here at the church. Join us in celebration for our brother and sister.
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That's an exciting time. This coming Thursday, we are going to have a turkey bowl.
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I want to thank Eric Meyer, who's graciously agreed to pull that thing together for us.
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Carrie, I think it's at 1030. Yes, it's at 1030. It does not matter, man, woman, whatever, but there's an age 13 and above.
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If you want to come around and bang into each other and throw a football around on Thursday, I think the weather's going to be really good for it.
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This is Thanksgiving week, and we recognize Wednesday. It's like the day before. We are not going to do the 12 o 'clock study on Wednesday.
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If you're normally coming for our Daniel study, it won't be this week. We're taking this week off.
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Looking far ahead, gentlemen, I want you to be getting your minds already wrapping around this.
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We have our men's retreat is planned. We're working on the specific details, but it will be in April the 12th through the 14th.
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It's a Friday, Saturday, Sunday this time, and we're going to be back up at the Pocono Mountain Bible Camp where we've been before.
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It will be just us. We're not joining with another large group. We're putting that out there so you know it.
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An opportunity that we would like to put in front of you, and that's that we're providing an opportunity for an end -of -year offering.
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People often are looking for the right place to do an end -of -year offering. Churches provide it.
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We are aware of an opportunity to support the building of a girls' orphanage in Malawi.
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That's where Hamilton Banda is our missionary out there. We're taking an end -of -the -year offering to put together funds to support the building of this orphanage.
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Our plan is to work with the missions committee. There's going to be an oversight of the project.
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We're not going to just give them a big slug of money. We're going to fund it as it works, but an end -of -year offering, it would be a great encouragement,
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I think, to Hamilton, as well as a much -needed ministry for the young ladies in Malawi.
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We do have our Connect Care. I want to highlight a couple of thoughts about the Connect Care ministry.
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It's an opportunity for us as a church body to volunteer to step up and encourage those who are going through a particular stress, they have a particular need.
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There are two ways that you participate. One is if you are aware of a need that somebody has, and it might be you or it might be somebody you know.
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Back in the foyer on the table are these forms. You fill this form out, and there's a box. You put it in the box.
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The second way is to participate. As these needs show up, there is a team of volunteers that contact those who are willing to be contacted, sending cards, letters, phone calls, visits to encourage those.
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We want to encourage your participation in that way in the Connect Care ministry.
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We are in the middle of our process towards identifying the new elder, the new deacons that will step up on the board in April.
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It takes a while to work through the process, but you as a congregation are going to nominate, you're going to identify those individuals you think should be serving.
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You're going to get a list of people, and you're going to pick off of that list. We recognize that at this point in time, not everybody feels at this point in time in their life is the right time for them to be serving, but you are a member.
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You would contact the nominating committee. Drew Deegan is the chair. Don Snowden is the deacon on it.
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You can send it to them. Pastor Jeff sent it to myself. If you feel this isn't the time, then your name just is not on that list, and that allows people to nominate those who would be wanting, feeling that God is calling them.
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Please take that seriously. If you think in prayer this is not the time, just let us know. Come back tonight speaking of prayer.
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Come back tonight at 6 o 'clock for our church prayer meeting. It's an amazing time to bring the needs of the church and what's going on.
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Join us at 6 o 'clock. Let's turn to prayer now. Lord, we celebrate in the truth of your love, and how great is that love.
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We come here today to worship and to hear your truth and to draw close to you.
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We come here today because of your love. We're unworthy sinners, but you ordained that your son would be the sacrifice.
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We come here today because by your love we are called your children.
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We come remembering and celebrating the standing of the true hope of your sovereign grace.
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Thank you, Father, for calling us and drawing us here today. We continue to pray,
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Lord, that you would be with your children in Israel. Stand by them. Protect them.
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In fact, protect all civilians, Lord, in this time of strife. But we pray along with others who pray that you would watch out for your people in Israel.
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Father, be with those in our midst, in our fellowship who are in need, who are grieving, who have sicknesses.
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We lift them up to you. Be with Pastor Jeff as he prepares to bring us your word.
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Give him your words to speak and preparing our hearts to hear and to respond.
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We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's sing together.
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Our radiant, they'll never be ashamed.
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They'll never be ashamed. This poor man cried, had the
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Lord heard me? And saved me from my enemies.
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The Son of God surrounds
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His saints. He'll deliver them.
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He will deliver them. Magnify the
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Lord with me. Come exalt
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His name together. Glorify the
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Lord with me. Come exalt
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His name forever. Oh, taste and see that the
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Lord is good. Oh, blessed is He who hides in Him.
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Oh, fear the Lord. All His saints,
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He'll give you everything. He'll give you everything.
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Magnify the Lord with me.
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Come exalt His name together.
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Glorify the Lord with me.
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Come exalt His name forever.
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Let us bless the Lord. Let us bless the
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Lord. Every day and night. Never ending praise.
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May our voices rise. Let us bless the
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Lord. Every day and night. Never ending praise.
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May our voices rise. Let us bless the
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Lord. Every day and night. Never ending praise.
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May our voices rise. Magnify the
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Lord with me. Come exalt
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His name together. Glorify the
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Lord with me. Come exalt
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His name forever.
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That's taken right from Psalm 34. I encourage you to meditate on that as you go through your week.
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Magnify the Lord together with me. And as we continue, let's sing together.
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Because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Let our mouths proclaim
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His wonderful grace and mercy. And His steadfast love to us.
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Give thanks to the Lord, our God and King. His love endures forever.
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For He is good. He is above all things. His love endures forever.
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Sing praise. Sing praise.
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With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. His love endures forever.
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For the life has been reborn. His love endures forever.
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Sing praise. Sing praise.
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Sing praise. Sing praise.
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Forever God is faithful. Forever God is strong.
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Forever God is with us. Forever. Forever.
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From the rising to the setting sun. His love endures forever.
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And by the grace of God, we will carry on. His love endures forever.
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Sing praise. Sing praise.
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Sing praise. Sing praise.
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Forever God is faithful.
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Forever God is strong. Forever God is with us.
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Forever. Forever God is faithful.
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Forever God is with us.
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Forever. Forever. Forever. Forever.
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Forever. Lord, we are so humbled that we get to stand here before you singing praises to your name.
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Lord, we are thankful. As we go into the Thanksgiving season, we know,
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Lord, that you have done so much more for us than we could ever repay, and we are thankful.
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Every blessing, every breath, everything you do for us, we know is by your grace.
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Come thou fount of every blessing.
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Tune my heart to sing your grace.
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Streams of mercy never cease. Call for songs of loudest praise.
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Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues of love.
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Praises made one, fixed upon it.
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Will the floods be filled? Hither to thy love has blessed me.
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Thou hast brought me to this place. And I know thy hand will bring me safely to thy good place.
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Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God.
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He, to rescue me from danger, bought me with his precious blood.
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Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily
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I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee.
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Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.
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Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it.
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Seal it for thy courts above. Here's my cry, oh, take and seal it.
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Seal it for thy courts above. You may be seated.
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Good morning. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, hallowed be thy name.
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You are worthy of every praise that we could ever offer you. You are good and you are
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God. We worship and adore you. Your kingdom come.
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God, we do ask that your kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven. We pray,
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Lord, that your rule would be extended into the hearts of those who hear this sermon today, believing that they would bow the knee before the
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King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, and so belong to the kingdom of heaven. We also pray,
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Lord, that your kingdom would come, Jesus, that you as King would come back for your own.
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Come, Lord Jesus. We are looking for your return. And we know that we cannot make things right here without you.
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We can do the best we can to hold on, Lord, but we are waiting for you, Jesus, to come back. Come, Lord Jesus.
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In the meantime, Lord, we pray that we would preach the gospel faithfully, that we would tell the truth to everyone, and that your kingdom would grow like from a mustard seed to become the biggest of trees,
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Lord, that the birds of the air would find nest in the branches of the kingdom. So, God, please use us in the pursuit of truth and preaching truth to make you known.
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In Jesus' name. Amen. Thanksgiving is Thursday. You guys do know that, right?
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You have plans of where to be? Thanksgiving is Thursday. Well, with Thanksgiving, I want us to take a moment at the beginning of the sermon to think about a particular blessing that we have to be born or to have moved to the
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United States of America. How thankful should we be for this country in which we live?
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We should be profoundly thankful, recognizing that this country was given to us by God, that there was a special providence in the plan and economy of God that brought us the country in which we live.
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In fact, if we were born and raised in the 1300s in Europe, we would have been under the boot of the
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Roman Catholic Church. Under the darkness of that particular situation, there were elements of truth.
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They preached the Trinity. There were elements of the Bible that were rightly upheld, but the gospel had been obscured behind a veil of ignorance, not aware of the word of God.
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The people didn't have access to the light of Scripture, and so many pursued sacraments just out of a mere course of religion without ever being born again, without knowing
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Jesus Christ. But there was a second problem. Besides the lack of gospel clarity, the second problem was political.
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The Roman government, the Empire, was somehow wed together with the
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Church so that the Church could arrest people who didn't believe as they do.
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One of the morning stars of the Reformation was a man named John Wycliffe.
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We know he brought the gospel to England in the 1300s, but in 1370 he wrote these words,
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Neither the Pope nor any other prelate of the Church ought to have prisons wherein to punish transgressors.
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Doesn't that seem pretty obvious to us? Because we were born in America, where the
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Church doesn't imprison people. About 50 years later in Bohemia, Jan Hus would make a similar pre -Reformation stand, and the
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Church condemned him to death, whereas they never caught up with Wycliffe until after he was dead. They would exhume his body and burn his body and scatter his ashes.
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They did catch up with Jan Hus in Bohemia, but before he was burned he said,
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You are going to burn a goose. The name Hus meant goose in Bohemian.
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You are going to burn a goose, but in 100 years you will have a swan which you can neither roast nor broil.
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Interesting famous last words, right? The famous last words of Jan Hus, prophetically speaking of the rise of Martin Luther.
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They couldn't kill him, and the Reformation did take root throughout Europe. Now we're very aware of this.
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The darkness light, post -Tenebrous lux, the gospel flooding into the
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European continent, the truth of the gospel, but what many people don't realize is that there was a political corollary to the
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Reformation. It was the preaching of freedom, as Wycliffe declared in Jan Hus.
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Theodore Beza would constrain magistrates against the divine right of kings.
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Kings do not have absolute authority. Following Calvin was this
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Beza, and he wrote on the rights of magistrates in 1574. There was a
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Frenchman, a Huguenot, anonymous, nobody knew who he was, but he wrote under a pseudonym
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Stephen Junius Brutus. Now Junius Brutus was et tu
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Brute, the one who killed Caesar when he was becoming a bit of a tyrant, so I think he was making reference to that, but he was writing under a pseudonym to defend against tyrants.
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Listen to what he wrote. First, the Holy Scripture does teach that God reigns by his own proper authority, and kings by derivation.
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God from himself, kings from God. God hath a jurisdiction proper, kings are his delegates.
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It follows then that the jurisdiction of God hath no limits, that the kings are bounded, that the power of God is infinite, that of kings is confined, that the kingdom of God extends itself to all places, that of kings is restrained within the confines of certain countries.
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What's he saying? There is a king of kings and a lord of lords. There is one enthroned in heaven who is over and above the constrained, delegated authorities of this world, that although God appoints magistrates in certain ways to do certain things, that is a delegated derivative authority that comes from the absolute, unquestioned, unchallenged, unmatched, unparalleled, full sovereign right of the king of kings.
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God is over all. That's what he's saying. Now this is hugely important because it means that the king, the sovereign, in a land, is not all powerful.
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The next important work to be written was Samuel Rutherford, who wrote
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Lex Rex. Another interesting term. Lex Rex.
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Lex law, Rex king. The rule of law over the king.
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Rex Lex would have been the king is law. But Lex law,
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Rex king, means the law rules the land, the rule of law. And from this doctrine came other writers who extended this
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Protestant theology. Protestant political theology we're talking about.
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So when the Mayflower Compact was written in 1620, the pilgrims,
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Puritans, escaping the oppression and the tyranny of their homeland, came to this place that we call the
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United States of America. They got off that boat with the Mayflower Compact saying,
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Mayflower Compact, saying, for the glory of God and the advancement of the
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Christian faith. They were willing to boldly confess that their God was
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Christ. And they were here under his sovereign authority.
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Interesting. When John Locke developed his ideas that give us the freedoms that we have in this country, understand that he credited these very writers that I'm telling you about as the founders of what he was teaching.
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And the United States of America was fashioned with our Constitution to give freedom of conscience.
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Because that came from the Bible. To limit and restrain the role of the governor and the king because that came from the
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Bible. But it did not subjugate God and the sovereign rule of the king of kings under the civil magistrates.
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When Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists and said that there is a wall of separation between church and state, he was telling the
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Danbury Baptists that the state will not keep them from doing whatever they are to freely do.
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It was not the other way around. It was freedom of religion in the
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United States of America. Thomas Jefferson did say that there would not be a religious test to hold office nationally.
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But that didn't mean that states couldn't do that, as we'll learn. When the founding fathers wrote the
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Constitution, did these men envision a secular thing where government would exclude and limit what
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Christians are able to say? Well, if so, then why did
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Thomas McLean have altar calls in the courtroom? John Hancock, whose famous signature took up half the page, called his state to prayer 22 times with Christ -centered language.
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Benjamin Rush, one of the signers, founded the first Bible society and the
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Sunday school movement. Francis Hopkinson set the entire book of Psalms to music.
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Remember we just sang Psalm 34, set to music? This founder set the entire book of Psalms to music.
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Robert Treat Paine was a military chaplain. Roger Sherman was a theologian and John Witherspoon was a gospel preacher in New Jersey.
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He was the president of Princeton. Even Thomas Jefferson, you'll be surprised by this, in 1802 signed a law renewing the authorization for the
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Society of the United Brethren for propagating the gospel among the heathen, for missionaries to be on the
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Northwest Territory evangelizing the Native Americans. What is this republic?
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Ben Franklin was asked that. He said, you have a republic if you can keep it.
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In our day, the freedoms that we were given are now being turned into an attack upon the church in many ways.
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There is an upside -down view of what this country was meant to be. John Adams took his philosophy from the
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Reformation political theory. He credits, as his forebears, the very people that I referenced earlier in this sermon.
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And he says, we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion.
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Avarice, ambition, revenge, gallantry would break the strongest cords of our
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Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.
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It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other. What we were given in this country, what we inherited, what we say thank you for this
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Thursday, when we have our Thanksgiving meals, is the work of God through the
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Protestant Reformation, and not only the ideology, but the people. It was the French Huguenots that immigrated here.
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It was the Puritans who brought and settled this country. What we give thanks for is a gift of God that he brought forth in time.
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Now, how did that happen? I want to pause for a moment and think. When Jesus stood before the governor representing
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Rome, this governor wielded the sword of Rome's authority,
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Pontius Pilate. Jesus had the power to approach him and to snatch the scepter from his hand.
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He could have called 12 legion of angels to come fight for him, but instead, he humbly submitted himself to die a death at Rome's hands.
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He could have done this in the collision of kingdoms. Does that mean that the kingdom of God was vanquished and conquered by Rome?
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Quite the opposite. What Jesus did in humbling himself was for the redemption of a people.
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If he had snatched that scepter and crushed Rome to pieces, set up his throne in Jerusalem, and Rome came to throw him out, he would have been victorious.
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He would have reigned over a kingdom, but none of us here would have been in it. No one would have been, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
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He instead laid down his life for sinners like us.
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And many people stop right there and say, okay, well, that's all that the kingdom of God is. It's within you, and it is.
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But understand that when he encountered Pontius Pilate and going forward, he also seeded the world with truth, like a seed that grows and becomes a tree to fill the whole earth.
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He seeded the world with truth, and that truth has transformed the very world in which we live.
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It's what gave us this country. Let's read this encounter without missing the point. John 18, verses 28 and following.
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As we come to chapter 18, verse 28, we have already seen
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Jesus in the garden arrested. There he is, a prophet in the wilderness, alone, no place to lay his head.
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As the Roman authorities come to arrest him, he proclaims,
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I am he, prophetically declaring who he is. Of course,
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Malchus is there, and he loses his ear in this exchange. But after proclaiming himself as prophet, the scene changes from Gethsemane to where?
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The seat, the courtyard of the high priest. So here we see
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Jesus as the great high priest. There is a pretender to that station,
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Caiaphas, but he's only a political priest. By political machinations, he has gotten that place.
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Annas, his stepfather, has gotten him in the role, and he stands in judgment over Jesus.
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But we need to see him as priest here, Jesus as priest, because Peter, in the scene, is very in need of a priest.
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Where he should be standing, and praying, and submitting to the lordship of Christ, and even boldly confessing,
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Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Instead, what is Peter doing? Denying him three times, and the point is here is one who needs a priest.
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And there is the steady, immovable rock of our salvation, the great high priest, who cannot be moved, and openly declares the truth.
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Prophet, priest, king. Now look with me in verse 28.
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They led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters.
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Here you see the true king will clash with a pretender to the throne, an opponent, a
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Roman governor, representing king, Caesar. It was early morning, verse 28, they themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the
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Passover. So Pilate went outside to them and said, what accusation do you bring against this man?
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They answered him, if this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.
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Pilate said to them, take him yourself and judge him by your own law. The Jews said to him, it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.
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Now notice verse 32. John is writing this gospel, and so we look to the author for the meaning that we're to take from the narrative.
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In verse 32, he tells us, this was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken, to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
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So this narrative that we're reading results in this conclusion that we'll explore.
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Look back at verse 28. They go to the governor's headquarters. Jesus is forcefully brought in to see
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Pilate, but where do the religious leaders remain? Verse 28, outside for fear that they would defile themselves.
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Imagine the hypocrisy of that. Their religious scruples keep them from defiling themselves in the presence of a
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Gentile while they're in the midst of handing Jesus over to be killed.
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Their murderous hearts don't match their outward practice.
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And this is the case with religiousness. Very often, the religion of humanity is fickle.
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Out of the same mouth, someone blesses and praises God and then turns and curses his neighbor.
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Blessing and cursing out of the same stream. Polluted water with the pure.
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Mankind is often very religious. But human religion is fickle and hypocritical.
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And if we're careful, we need to see this in ourselves at times as well. How often do we bless the name of the
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Lord with all our soul on a Sunday morning and then fall into sin or a bitter attitude of the heart later on in the week?
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This is something to which all humanity is prone, and it is why we need this high priest that we're studying and seeing today.
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No man, listen, maybe you've come here today and you have a certain religion. I don't care what the tradition is.
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The Buddhist Eightfold Path, the Ten Commandments of Judaism, Islam's Five Pillars, Christianity's Roman Catholic sacraments.
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Whatever you're trusting, you will not perform that duty in a pure, undefiled way.
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There will be elements of hypocrisy in you, and you will fall short of the glory of God. You won't even live up to your own standard, let alone to the righteousness and perfection of God.
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Do you see it in the Jewish leaders? On one hand, they're being very religious, very scrupulous not to defile themselves, but in the same breath, they're handing over the
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God of the universe to be crucified. There has to be a different way than religious obedience.
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It doesn't work for them, and it wouldn't work for us. There is another way. It's through faith in the Son of God.
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Verse 29, so Pilate went outside to them and said, What accusation do you bring against this man?
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Now, pause for a second and think about that question. What's the charge? What charge do you bring against this man?
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At the crack of dawn, why did you get me out of bed? What's going on here, folks? You would think that when you read the next verse, you will at least know what he's charged with.
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If you don't, there's something wrong with these men. Listen. They answered him,
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If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.
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So what's the charge? What's the charge? Their answer is,
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Oh, we have a good one. We have a good one. Trust us. It's good.
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Believe me. Believe you me. This man is evil. And if he weren't, we wouldn't be here today.
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They're completely obfuscating. They have no charge that they can press by biblical justice.
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Now, notice what standard they're actually using. They're actually not judging
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Jesus by biblical justice. If they were to do that, they would examine his claims.
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He claims to be the Christ. The Bible prophesied who the Christ would be. They would look and see, does he match the prophetic writings?
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Was he born in Bethlehem? Did he come out of Egypt as a child? Did he do miracles greater than Moses?
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Did he ride into Jerusalem on a donkey? As Zechariah 9 -9 prophesied would happen.
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If they were judging by biblical standards, equal weights and equal measures, they would see his claim to be the
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Christ is true. But they don't want to face the reality and judge rightly, so they're actually going to watch this.
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They're going to use Roman law to condemn him. This is the upside down ethics of this world.
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Biblical justice is given to them, but notice what they explicitly do. Verse 31.
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Pilate says to them, take him yourself and judge him by what standard? Your own law.
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And what do they do? They turn to Roman law. The Jews said to him, it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.
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Oh, they could have put Jesus to death for blasphemy. If he's not the son of God, that's in the
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Torah. The penalty is stoning to cast him down. So what is
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John doing in this narrative? What's happening? Well, I told you where to look. John himself says in verse 32, this was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
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This is a kind of death that is the unjust killing of Jesus by Gentiles.
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By being lifted up. Remember what John told us earlier. In John chapter 12.
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Go back with me. Let's just look at it so we all see it ourselves in the text. John 12, 32 and 33.
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If the Jews were to put someone to death, how would they do it? They do have a means.
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It's by stoning. In Acts chapter 7, when they don't like what
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Stephen is saying, what do they do? They stone him right there and then. But look what happens here in John 12, 32 and 33.
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And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.
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He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. The kind of death that Jesus is going to die is not to be cast down and stoned to death, but rather to be lifted up.
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Next chapter, 13 verses 18 and 19. John 13, 18 and 19.
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I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but the scripture will be fulfilled.
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He who ate my bread has lifted up his heel against me.
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He's quoting from Psalm 49. The scripture will be fulfilled. Judas Iscariot at the
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Passover meal is eating bread with the other disciples. Jesus dips the bread and gives it to him.
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And Judas lifts up his heel against Jesus. How so? What does it say? I am telling you this now before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am he.
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Jesus prophesied his own death. And in Matthew chapter 20, verse 19, he will say that he would be handed over to the
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Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified and on the third day raised from the dead.
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Jesus prophesied his own death being betrayed by his own people,
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Judas being the instrument of that, and not killed by Jewish stoning, but rather lifted up by Roman crucifixion.
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John 18 verse 32. This is John's point, that we, hearing these words fulfilled, recognizing how
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Jesus died by being lifted up on a cross, a Roman instrument of execution, not stoned to death, but handed over to the
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Romans, that's why this is unfolding the way it is. It was ordained by God, prophesied by Jesus, and is now being fulfilled right in their sight.
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He's unjustly condemned. Notice that the one who does this is a pretender to the level of authority he's claiming.
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Look at verses 33 and following. So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called
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Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? You see, the issue is are you a king?
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He won't be condemned for blasphemy, he'll be condemned for high treason.
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Not for the Jewish charge that he claims to be the son of God, but for the Roman threat of insurrection, sedition.
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He's a king, and that's Pilate's concern. It's the concern of the text. He's a king.
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Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?
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Now Pilate is thinking of his own derivative authority. He's a governor of Rome, and Jesus is only a lowly
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Jew under him, under his jurisdiction.
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He doesn't know who he's dealing with, does he? Verse 35, am
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I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me.
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What have you done? Here we have a man in his jurisdiction failing to recognize that there is a king and a kingdom that's higher than him.
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How many times have you heard it taught that Romans 13 tells
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Christians that we are always to obey the civil authorities, to be in submission.
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Those saying such things fail to recognize that a few verses later
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Romans 13 .4 says, listen, that the governor is
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God's deacon, diakonos, servant. Did you know that all authority on earth in a proper jurisdiction, the governor, the king, the president, the judge, all of these jurisdictions are derivative authority, but there is a
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God who has absolute authority overall. We foresaw this in Daniel chapter 2 and Daniel chapter 7.
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You have these different kingdoms, Babylon, Medo -Persia, Greece, then the
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Romans coming out of Greece, but in Daniel chapter 7 we see not only the jurisdictions of this world and the kingdoms as God causes kings to come and go, but you see a son of man who has a throne and to him is given all dominion that all the people of the world will worship him forever.
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Daniel chapter 7. And now listen very carefully. In Matthew 28 verses 18 to 20 when our commission is given to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
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Father, Son, Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded. Matthew 28 19 and 20.
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That is preceded in verse 8 with this claim, don't miss it, all authority in heaven and on earth is given to me.
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Jesus reigns now as king of kings and lord of lords.
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Although he submits himself to Roman crucifixion, he does not abdicate his throne.
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He is still ruler of all and the kingdoms that he brings up to restrain evil in the world to bear the sword of government,
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Romans 13. These kingdoms are derivative authority, but he is that king from which their authority derives.
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They are not absolute and there is a such thing in this world as tyranny of which the
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Protestant reformers wrote. To resist the tyrant who takes for himself an authority that's out of his jurisdiction in the name of Christ is good and godly.
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It is not disobedient to Romans 13. Should we talk about a couple of examples of that?
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When a government says you are not to meet, we are to say the king of kings and lord of lords has commanded us to gather in his name, to preach the word, to sing hymns, to take communion, to be in fellowship with one another, to hear the preaching of the word under the authority of God's word and the power of the
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Holy Spirit in the gathered assembly, this is our command and the king of kings has jurisdiction over yours.
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When they say you are forced to take this injection into your body, we are to say the king of kings is the king and lord over this body.
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This is a temple of God and the Holy Spirit has jurisdiction, not you.
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Go back to your lane. When they even say you must cover your face, we are to say the king of kings has made this face to shine with the light of Christ to the world, with the glory of God reflecting so that you can see on my face as I preach that I believe in Jesus Christ.
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And governor, you have no authority to tell me to cover this face anywhere or ever because the king of kings has jurisdiction even over you.
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You see where I'm going? And in every area of life this applies. It doesn't mean that we are rebellious.
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It doesn't mean that we are to be an anarchy. It means that there is always still a king over us.
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We have freedom of conscience and the way that God has designed government is for it to be limited. There are real authorities on earth that we are to heed.
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When those things stay in the lane that God has given them to hold. And that brings us now to the key passage in verse 36 to 38.
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So often wielded wrongly to tell Christians that our domain is only spiritual.
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That Christians cannot touch anything beyond the invisible. Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world.
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If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the
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Jews. But my kingdom is, watch this, not from the world.
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Did Jesus there teach us that we are to not be in the world?
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Just chapters before, just a chapter before, John 17 verses 14 and 15, turn back a page.
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We learn that we are to be in the world, not of it. What does it mean to be not of the world?
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We get this with our lives, we have to be here. And in the world, in the culture, salt and light in the world, but not polluted by the evil one, not of it, not of their culture, not of their worldview.
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John 17, 14 and 15, I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world.
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Just as I am not of the world, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
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And so we teach so often, you're in the world, not of it. Now in the same way, read
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Jesus' words. My kingdom is not of the world, but it's in it.
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It's salt and light in this world and it's growing everywhere, even though you can't even perceive it, it's right under your nose.
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The king is with us. In that great commission, he said, lo, I am with you to the ends of the age.
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Yes, our hope is in the establishment of the millennial reign of Christ. And we're not going to get it all right until he gets here.
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But until that time, he is with us, he is in us as we are in the world. He even says at the end of verse 36, my kingdom is not from the world.
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It's not derivative. It's not granted by Caesar. It's not granted by Pilate.
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I hold the scepter of Psalm 2. My kingdom is over and above.
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It's on a whole different plane. That's what he's saying. This is the king of the universe standing before an earthly king.
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It's an amazing interaction. But by this teaching, we learn how it is that the kingdom of God affects the kingdoms of this world.
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Does this verse teach us that we can't be explicitly Christian in affecting culture?
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Not at all. That's not his point. In fact, the very point as you follow along, Pilate said to him, so you are a king?
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Jesus answered, you say that I'm a king. Now that's an expression where the author is saying yes.
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It's an affirmative. It just means yes. But there is a deeper level there. You say that I'm a king.
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Every time something's going wrong and you are whispering your prayer to an unknown
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God, you're talking to me. You don't know the
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God of the universe. You don't know who stands as king of kings and lord of lords. And every time you've prayed to the unknown
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God in Rome, you were praying to me. He doesn't know who he's talking to, but you say it.
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It's an affirmative, but it has a deeper meaning. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose
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I have come into the world. Now notice this. To bear witness to the truth, the king does not snatch the throne at this moment.
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Instead he does something very different. He bears witness to truth. He seeds the world with truth.
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And what does that look like? Had he snatched the throne, he could have freed half of the
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Roman empire from slavery. Did you know half of Rome are slaves at this time? He could have set up his kingdom and set the slaves free.
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He didn't do that. Instead he seeded the world with truth. He gave them 1
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Timothy chapter 1 verse 10 that the law of God says you shall not steal men.
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Man stealing, slavery is against the law of God. He says in Galatians chapter 3 that there's neither slave nor free.
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He says in Colossians 3 .11, there's neither barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all.
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He tells Philemon a slave owner, receive Onesimus back but no longer as a slave, now as a brother.
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So he allows the institution to remain. If you can't be free, be a slave and do it for the honor of God.
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But he says in 1 Corinthians, if you have the opportunity to gain your freedom, take it.
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So what has he done? By seeding this truth through the word of God into the world, he has completely gutted slavery, emptied of its power and condemned it by the law of God.
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And so when William Wilberforce is walking to Parliament, the
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Englishmen, when slavery and ships are running from Africa to the
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Americas and to England, John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace used to run one of those slave ships.
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Newton and Wilberforce will quote these scriptures and say, in the name of Jesus Christ, slavery must end.
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Did you know slavery fell in the name, explicitly in the name of Christ? William Wilberforce, as he walked to Parliament, he would be quoting
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Psalm 119 every day. He had the whole thing memorized.
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It's 176 verses. He had it memorized and he would quote it on his walk to work and he would proclaim the word of God.
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So how does this kingdom go? It's a seed of truth that changes the world.
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We have inherited the freedoms of this country through the word of God brought into the political reality of our country.
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We should be so thankful and we should not let it go. We should fight for it.
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We should speak the truth. Now look at the opposite, verse 38. Pilate's answer is so pathetic but because it's so terse, it's supposed to catch your attention.
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Remember when Judas left and John says, and it was night. That short expression just ends it.
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It speaks so many volumes. It was dark. It was evil. And it was night.
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Or Jesus wept. Two words that say everything about his heart of compassion and love for people.
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Jesus wept. Same thing happens here. What is truth? And that ends the trial.
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No more questioning. Now he'll come back later but at this point he's able to declare Jesus innocent.
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What is truth? Here, Pilate simply dismisses the idea that you can have absolute truth.
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Jews judge him by the law of Judaism and there's all these other gods and Pilate is throwing up his hands.
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There is no absolute truth. Jesus has just said, everyone on the side of truth listens to me.
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Christian, this is your sword in the world. This is the truth.
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Absolute truth. When you proclaim this word people are saved.
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Kingdoms fall and rise. Everyone on the side of truth. When you preach the gospel, some come to saving faith.
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The light dispels the darkness. Lastly, verses 38 to 40, the king is rejected.
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After he had said this he went back outside to the Jews and told them, I find no guilt in him.
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So was Rome ready to acquit him? Sure they were. There's no charge. Pilate isn't dumb.
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Their answer, what charge? Oh, we have a good charge. There's no charge.
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There's no reason. He just knows that they want him dead. But he thinks of this plot.
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You have this custom. It was a new custom because there's no record of it in the writings of Israel.
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That at this time of year in the Passover they would release someone to them.
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Rome would give them back one of their criminals. So do you want me to release to you the king of the
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Jews? I think down deep he knows who he is. There's something different about this one.
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But they cry out again, not this man but Barabbas.
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Now Barabbas was a robber. The king is rejected that Barabbas could be set free.
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The king is rejected, but who is Barabbas in this story? I like how
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John Gill answers that question. John Gill is that great theologian from England.
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As sure as John Gill is in his study. There's a song out right now called I Am Barabbas.
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You can listen to it on the radio. It's good. John Gill says this. Now Barabbas was a robber.
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He was an emblem of God's elect in a state of nature. Released and set free when
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Christ was condemned. These as elect in a state of nature.
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He, many of them at least, are notorious sinners. Barabbas according to Matthew and Luke was also not just a robber, not someone who just snuck into houses.
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He was an insurrectionist. He was leading a seditious rebellion to overthrow the
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Roman government in Jerusalem. The very thing Jesus was accused of. He was a notorious sinner.
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The chief of sinners. Robbers and murderers. Who have robbed
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God of his glory and destroyed themselves. Prisoners concluded in sin and unbelief.
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Shut up in the law and in a pit wherein is no water. In their natural state.
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Think of it. Paul called himself the chief of sinners. Here we are.
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Rightly condemned for our sins. Robbers and murderers and thieves. But listen.
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Worthy of death. Children of wrath. And yet, children of God by adopting grace.
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As his name Barabbas, did you know this? Means the son of the father.
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Barabbas. Bar, son, Abba, father. The son of the father.
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The son of the father. These though such criminals so deserving of punishment were let go free when
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Christ was taken. Condemned and died. According to the wise secret counsel of Jehovah, it is a large discovery of divine grace.
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What lays those who are released under the greatest obligations to live to him who suffered for them in their room and in their stead.
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So here's what happened, church. The king was presented before the people. But they chose
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Barabbas to be released. You and I are
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Barabbas. Who believe in Christ, notorious sinners deserving of death.
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Christ went in our room, in our stead and bore the wrath that we deserved.
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Barabbas deserved to die. We deserve to die. Christ had the power to keep his life.
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No one took it. He laid it down willingly at the hands of the Romans. And so I say to you in closing here this morning, have you entered the kingdom of God?
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How do you enter the kingdom of God? It is by faith in this one
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Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God is as near to you this morning as your breath.
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If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord. Jesus is king.
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And believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. You will be saved. Promise of Romans 10, 9 and 10.
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It is to bow the knee to the king. It is to acknowledge that Jesus is the king of kings.
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He died for my sins. He rose on the third day. And he ever reigns as the king and lord of the universe.
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It's to submit to him as lord. He's king. The kingdom is in each of you who believe this.
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So if you've never put your faith in Jesus, this is your time to do that. To humble yourself before him.
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We'll go out from here and we'll proclaim the whole truth to all the world. And it will make a difference in this world.
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But unless you have the king of kings living in your heart, unless you're saved, the country you're born in doesn't matter.
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Your political reality doesn't matter. Nothing matters because you would die and go to an everlasting darkness into a place called hell.
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So right now, unless you've already done this and you're saved, you need to invite
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Jesus into your heart. Let's pray. Father, as we have read these words, we are convicted and we do believe that Jesus is the
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Christ, the son of the living God. The king of kings, the lord of lords.
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We do believe that he was handed over to die at the hands of the
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Romans, being lifted up rather than stoned down. To be mocked and scourged, crucified.
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We believe he died the death that we deserve. And we believe that on the third day he rose again.
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We believe that the king of kings is coming again to establish his kingdom on earth.
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We confess and we do not deny, Jesus is the Christ. King of kings and lord of lords.
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And father, for those who have not yet believed or confessed their sins, repented of sin, help them pray right now to turn their hearts to the king.
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To confess sin. Turn away from sin. And to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sin.
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Thank you, Jesus, for dying for us and rising on the third day. In your name we pray, amen.
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Sing of his grace, whose robe is the light and canopy space.
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Whose chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form. And dark is his path on the wings of the storm.
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You alone are the matchless king. To you alone be all majesty.
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Your glories and wonders what tongue can recite. You breathe in the air.
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You shine in the light. Oh measureless my ineffable love.
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While angels delight to worship above. Thy mercies are tender and firm to the end.
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Our precious redeemer and friend. You alone are the matchless king.
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To you alone be all majesty. Your glories and wonders what tongue can recite.
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You breathe in the air. You shine in the light.
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You alone. You alone are the matchless king.
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To you alone be all majesty. Your glories and wonders what tongue can recite.
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You breathe in the air. You shine in the light.
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You shine in the light. You alone shine in the light.
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Oh worship the king all glorious above. His wonderful love.
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Our shield, our defender, the ancient of days. Pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.
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Let's hear of the coming of the king. Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse.
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The one sitting on it was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
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His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems. And he has a name written that no one knows but himself.
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He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood and the name by which he is called is the word of God.
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And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen white and pure were following him on white horses.
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From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron.
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He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the almighty on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written king of kings and lord of lords.