Innocent! Innocent! Innocent! - [John 18:37-19:6]

Well, I would invite you to take a Bible and open to the gospel of John John chapter 18 as we conclude that chapter.

I'm moving to 19 this morning But to give a special greeting to all those on the

Internet I know many of our BBC folks are unable to be here and so greetings to you

You know when I was a kid We used to do things like go to Mormon night at Disneyland because I was a

Mormon My mom would always tell me, you know stay with your brother Stay with a group

There's safety in numbers You don't want to be alone because then you can be kind of picked off There's wisdom in that right even the

Bible says what that there is victory or In the

ESV there with many advisors You succeed with many advisors or counselors you succeed

But that's really only true if what if the advisors or the counselors know what they're doing, right?

If they're righteous people if they're wise people then you can take their counsel, but what if they're not?

What if they don't know the right thing to do? Which is inherent in that word is there safety in numbers?

Not if the numbers not if the mob not if the crowd is Ungodly not if they're unsaved right if we just kind of walk through the

Bible for a minute How many people got on the ark trick question?

Nobody seems to know that this morning Eight, it's hard Eight yes eight people got on the ark.

What was everybody else doing? Mocking Noah the crowd was Wrong would have been dangerous to be in that crowd

How about when the whole earth everybody? Gathered together at a place called

Shinar They started building a tower right there. We're gonna get up to the heavens

Because the goal was to be like God Was that a wise thing to do no and God then confused language

And spread people all over the world How about as?

We've been reading in Genesis When Joseph's brothers got together was their wisdom in that little crowd

No, they sold him into slavery How about when Moses?

Ascends to the mountain to get the commandments. What does the crowd do? Hey, I've got a great idea

Let's build a golden calf. Let's make one right now. Let's worship an idol. That's a good idea

There may be physical safety in a mob But that could be a lot of spiritual danger

James compares the tongue With what a rudder

I mean it compares it to a number of things, but he compares it to a rudder why? Because it steers the whole ship

And when you're in a crowd when you're in a mob an ungodly mob a

Few people can steer That whole mob and make it do things that you don't really want to do

We're going to see that today we're going to see a few rudders as it were turn a whole mob

Let's go to our text in john chapter 18 starting in verse 37 Then Pilate said to him

So you are a king Jesus answered You say that I am a king

For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth

Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice Pilate said to him

What is truth? After he had said this he went back outside to the jews and told them

I find no guilt in him But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the passover

So do you want me to release to you the king of the jews? They cried out and again

Not this man, but barabbas Now barabbas was a robber

Then pilate took jesus and flogged him And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe

They came up to him saying hail king of the jews And struck him with their hands

Pilate went out again and said to them See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him

So jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe

Pilate said to them behold the man When the chief priests and and the officers saw him they cried out

Crucify him crucify him Pilate said to them

Take him yourselves and crucify him for I find no guilt in him

Now we spent the last few weeks looking at trials In fact,

I think if we went all the way back To john chapter 13, I think we could say in some ways there have been a series of trials really

What we looked at was the culmination of the trial for judas Judas iscariot was disillusioned with jesus

Even though nobody knew it He was disappointed Because jesus was not going to be this kind of revolutionary.

He was not going to be this sort of leader He was not going to be someone who overthrew the romans and somebody who was going to lead judas into power

And into wealth which is what? judas wanted And as judas was not one of the chosen of the father

And because he was consumed by the things of this world He was easy prey for satan knowing this

And in fact knowing all that was going to happen. John tells us Jesus nevertheless had done what for judas

He washed his feet Along with all the other disciples Judas had eaten the passover meal just like he was one of the fellas

Just sitting there with jesus just hanging out but if you recall in john 13 27

Jesus knowing everything that was going to happen knowing what was in judas's heart He said to him what you are going to do do quickly

And that set everything in motion Judas then went to the sanhedrin the jewish leaders told them

I know where we can find jesus They obtained troops

From pilate the roman governor They went and arrested jesus with judas leading the pack judas

Was tried and failed We've also seen the trial of peter peter who boldly proclaimed

That he would lay down his life for jesus And then what does jesus say? peter

Before the rooster crows three times you're going to deny me As we saw the disciples scattered once jesus was arrested

But john peter they rally they follow the arrest pack as it were

All the way to the home of annas Was the really the power behind the throne for this kind of illegal hearing in the middle of the night

And peter could be seen by jesus from the courtyard of caiaphas the high priest

Jesus saw him there right as peter denied him the third time peter tried failed

Last week while we were walking through the illegal hearing before annas the rushed religious trial before caiaphas the escorting of jesus to pilots headquarters

If you recall while he was held there he was beaten had his beard plucked out

But even so jesus while being tried Never failed and he's not going to fail today

In fact this morning as we go through this text. We're going to see jesus declared innocent

Without crime without possibility of any accusation three times three times the corrupt

The wicked Roman leader Pontius pilate is going to evaluate jesus

Whom the pharisees want to put to death And declare him innocent So the first declaration of innocence

Starting in verse 37 and really this is a little bit more of a recap with some new information from last week

But this is jesus telling pilot more than he wants to hear In verse 37 then pilate said to him.

So you are a king jesus answered You say that I am a king For this purpose

I was born and for this purpose i've come into the world to bear witness to the truth Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice

Now as I said pilot Was a wicked man, but he was also cruel in fact in the gospels

We would read this that he actually when the galileans came a group of galileans came to the temple to worship

What did he do? He murdered them So that their blood was mixed with their sacrifices in the temple.

That's what kind of man pilot was And he was in jerusalem specifically because he wanted to be on hand in case the jews got out of control

This was the big passover celebration everybody from all around israel is in town

And it's job security for him. He has to be there in case there is a rebellion The jews are famous for their rebellions.

In fact, they rebelled so often so frequently That eventually the romans went in in 130 ad and removed them from the holy land now pilot

Asked jesus if he's a king because jesus in verse 37 has just asserted his authority his kingship

Concluding with this But my kingdom is not from this world

What do you mean? He meant pilot my kingdom is not like I'm, not the king of and this is an anachronism, but of england

I'm, not the king of france. I'm, not the king of greece I'm, not anything like what you are used to dealing with my kingdom is a spiritual kingdom

And that's what he explains to him But he says when he answers the question

So you are a king, how does he answer it? Well if he answers it directly if he says

I am not a king then what's he doing? He's lying. He can't lie

If he says yes, I am a king then he's confirming the suspicion that he is in fact a political figure

So what he does instead is he sort of explains who he is, right? And in telling him who he is he tells him that he is eternal

That he came from he doesn't say from heaven, but how else could he say that he came into the world?

He came from heaven into the world He, also tells him that he's here to reveal the truth

He says that he came to bear witness to the truth he reveals god to mankind And he's, also the ruler of all who will believe everyone who is of the truth listens heeds my voice

Now the question there is will pilot listen will he take Heed of those claims of jesus and think okay i've never heard anybody talk like this

I'd at least like to ask him a few questions and find out who he is Sadly no look at verse 38 pilot said to him

What is truth? pilot is cynical Pilot is world weary pilot is just he doesn't he doesn't really care about spiritual things right?

He's consumed with the here and now This is the case with most people that you run into right

They have no care for what happens after death. They're worried about everything that happens up till that point He's completely indifferent.

He basically just sort of shrugs his shoulders. It's like a giant meh And turns back to the crowd, right?

And he asks no questions that he might learn even so pilot has no interest in putting jesus to death

No matter how much these troublemaking from pilot's perspective these troublemaking jewish leaders want jesus put to death

This is not his fight as far as pilot's concerned He looks over and over and over again for a way to just get out of it to get rid of jesus to be done

With this question about what to do with him Again, verse 38 the second half of it

After he had said this he went back outside to the jews and told them I find no guilt in him

As far as pilot was concerned this was some kind of Religious debate

This is between a jew and a bunch of jews He didn't know anything about jewish the jewish religion and what he did know

He didn't really care about this had nothing to do with rome. And so get out just be gone is what he wants

Jesus is not some threat to rome. He's not going to lead some military insurrection There is no crime is what he says he's innocent

And we know that we know that he's not violating any law So the case is closed.

I mean imagine in our system You're the defendant The judge goes not guilty boom swings the gavel.

What's going to happen next? You're walking out you're done case dismissed.

It's over Now pilot could have done that He could have released him he could have said, you know, what not only is he innocent

But this is tired. I'm just done He should have done that he knew this was an innocent man but Pilot's not a judge an impartial judge

He's a politician He's a man with an audience that he wants to please

Now he doesn't like the jews, but he also knows that the jews can cause a lot of trouble for him

He doesn't want a lot of trouble So he's going to do something to please them

And he sends the pilot his first kind of Pilot sends jesus to herod.

That's his first attempt to Just kind of shove off the problem on somebody else like any bureaucrat, right?

You ever dealt with people like this Not my problem, why don't you go talk to so -and -so in accounting? Well herod is so -and -so in accounting, you know, just go see him

Maybe he'll settle this That doesn't really work herod who had some authority in galilee

Nevertheless says I don't find any guilt in him and sends him back to pilot Luke records what happens this way in luke 23 verses 13 to 16 pilot then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people

And said to them You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people After examining him before you behold.

I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him Same thing. We just basically heard verse 15

Neither did herod for he sent him back to us. Look Nothing deserving death

Has been done by him But look at verse 16. I will therefore Punish and release him.

He says nothing deserving death. Well, what does he mean by that? Under their system

As I said last week rome was the only one that could administer the death penalty They didn't give that kind of autonomy to local governments

So he says listen This is not worthy of my time This is not a capital case this doesn't belong before me

He has done nothing deserving death He's wanting to push it down to a lower court as it were back to the jews

And then he says in verse 16. I mean you you read that and you think okay Well, this is over then and then he says verse 16.

I will therefore punish and release him Now just imagine again.

You're in the courtroom. The judge says innocent hits the gavel. You're thinking woohoo done The judge says well before I let you go a little punishment is in order

What? We punish the innocent the sanhedrin

Knew that pilot would have no interest in crucifying jesus because he simply Healed a man on the sabbath or even when he called lazarus forth from the dead

They didn't care that he was popular among or pilot wasn't going to care that he was popular among the jewish people

That he'd done these signs and wonders So they tried to paint him as a schemer a political figure

Somebody who was a threat And when that doesn't work Pilot instead of releasing him intends to punish him and then release him because it's like i'm going to throw you guys a bone i'm going to appease you so that you'll

Take care of jesus yourselves That's unjust. We know that the innocent are not punished

And this light punishment that he was going to consider here Was only a flogging piece of wood multiple cords

Either metal or bone sharp on the edges or on the ends of the ropes on the cords

And just again and again Hitting it on your back Even a light beating would send any of us to the hospital

But pilot thought you know this kind of punishment would give the jewish leaders what they wanted And he would be done with this this jesus character, but the flogging doesn't even happen here not yet So that's our first declaration of innocence our second declaration of innocence pilot desperate to have this over But he doesn't want the crowd angry at him he doesn't want it to turn to a riot

He doesn't want them to start burning buildings He wants to please them somehow

So verse 39 back in john 18 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the passover

So do you want me to release to you the king of the jews? On display here

Mark helps us frame this turn for a moment to mark chapter 15. We'll get some more details here

Mark 15 starting in verse 6 Mark 15 verses 6 to 11

Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked

And among the rebels in prison who had committed murder in the insurrection. There was a man named barabbas

And the crowd came up and began to ask pilot to do as he usually did for them And he answered them saying do you want me to release for you the king of the jews?

So we're right where we were before For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priest had delivered him up, right?

He wants to get rid of their concern But he wants to do it by having the crowd sort of overrule the chief priest verse 11

But the chief priest stirred up the crowd to have him released for them or to have him release for them barabbas instead

Don't release jesus release barabbas And you can almost hear the wheels as pilots really just trying to get jesus out of his hair

Jesus is by now a fairly physically a pathetic figure. He's had his beard plucked out

He's been beaten He's a bloody mess He's also been dressed in some kind of robe

And they're making fun of him at the idea that he is a king So pilot decides he'll present

This choice to this growing crowd and it's growing because as we said it's early in the morning And as the time goes on things get worse and worse for pilot

He would have been wise to just be done with him right off the bat, but he doesn't do that because of political considerations

He sends him off to herod and then back well that takes some time He's already had a hearing with him he's already

Wasted time just transporting him back and forth And the crowd imagine being in jerusalem.

There's no cable tv. I know that's shocking There's no internet The news of the day is what?

They've arrested jesus and jesus is on trial Not only that the governor's running this trial.

Let's go see what's happening So as time goes on more and more people are coming out matthew describes barabbas as notorious

Little is known about him. Unfortunately historians don't talk about him. I guess he wasn't all that significant of a figure

He's described as a robber a murderer He's part of an insurrection.

Well, whatever happened in this insurrection It wasn't a good thing right? I mean, he's not exactly george washington.

He's more benedict arnold He is somebody who is despised by the jews He brings out this most contemptible man barabbas

Sure in his own mind that there's no way they're gonna pick this guy instead of this bloodied

Mess of a man He brought up somebody he knew the jewish crowd would hate

And again, this is all about the death penalty. This is all about crucifixion Who should

I let go who should I not punish with crucifixion This guy that everybody hates or poor jesus this innocent man.

I just told you he's innocent. He didn't do any crimes Who do you want punished now again, this is friday morning what happened on monday morning

It's palm monday not palm sunday the triumphal entry Everybody's out there welcoming.

Jesus the palm fronds hosanna hosanna hosanna If there was like A jerusalem idol contest, you know, who's the most popular person in jerusalem?

It would have been jesus on monday Pilot knows something about that and he has to be thinking to himself.

Come on He can't have lost all that popularity in just a few days There's absolutely no way

That they won't ask me to save jesus they're gonna condemn barabbas

But again the chief priests Our text tells us are

Stirring up The verb literally means they're shaking up. I mean they are moving around they are getting that crowd worked up They are in fact

The rudders as it were steering the ship of the mob They're directing the mob they're getting them more and more on their side

Looking at matthew for a moment helps us to understand this matthew 27 verse 15

Because as if on cue Just when maybe jesus is going to get released maybe

Pilot gets a text from his wife He gets a phone call from his wife

Okay, he doesn't get a text or phone call he gets a message how do you get a message somebody comes running up Maybe he read it personally.

Maybe it was read to him. But by the time this gets to him It's a delay at the very least.

Let's read matthew 27 verses 15 to 20 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted

And they had then a notorious prisoner called barabbas So they had so when they had gathered pilot said to them whom do you want me to release for you barabbas?

Or jesus who was called christ For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up Besides he was sitting on the judgment seat

Or while he was sitting on the judgment seat his wife sent word to him message

Here's the message Have nothing to do with that righteous man In other words don't put this innocent man to death

Why for i've suffered much because of him today in a dream Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for barabbas and destroy jesus

He gets this message and while he's while it's getting to him while he's reading it while it's being read to him

Whatever the case is All the more the chief priests are out there among the people

We want to put barabbas We want to save him not jesus Now what about pilot's wife?

Some have claimed that she was a believer of sorts. Maybe a jewish proselytes We don't really know

But whatever the case is she wants pilot to acquit jesus

So let's think about it. He's innocent. We know that Pilots determined that He's already suffered

He's already bloodied He's already been mocked Pilot wants to let him go and now pilot's wife is like, please don't punish jesus

This other guy's a horrible human being verse 40 back in john 18 verse 40

They cried out again Not this man, but barabbas Now barabbas was a robber

The rudder has steered the ship The jewish leaders have steered the crowd into the unlikely and unwanted from pilot's perspective decision

They want barabbas released This violent man this murderer this robber this insurrectionist probably akin to a terrorist

I mean it's like imagine Here you have an innocent man, or you can release osama bin laden who you're going to pick

But pilot was trapped by his own

Kind of cleverness and delaying the decision in trying to think of ways where he didn't have to take responsibility

He's painted himself into a corner He's gone the extra mile to placate the sanhedrin

To make it look like he just didn't dismiss their concerns out of hand But as the crowds in jerusalem start gathering

Finding out what's going on and the crowd now is in control of these high priests and they're chanting for barabbas to be released

Pilot schemes have failed So that's not going to work.

Does he have any tricks left in his bag? Is there anything else he can do to sort of get out of this? We see it in verse one.

He's like, you know what? I'm going to go back to what I said earlier I'm going to release him i'm going to punish him

So verse one Then pilot took jesus and flogged him

And this is unlike the sort of flogging that he had in mind in the first place. There's a mild flogging

As if there is such a thing This flogging required a few floggers

Why? Because they would get exhausted at striking the victim over and over and over again

Eventually their arms would get tired and they'd go. Okay, they'd tag out for the next guy to come in This flogging was so brutal

That it would leave not only remove the flesh much of the flesh off your back. It would often expose bone and even organs to the open air

It was only done Before somebody was going to be crucified. The reason they would do that is because it sped up the crucifixion

It made the death faster in fact some people didn't even survive this flogging that's how bad it was

It was so bad it was illegal to do it on a roman citizen

Jesus isn't a roman citizen From the divine perspective.

The goal is of course to get jesus on the cross And that's well on its way to happening as I said jesus was a bloody mess and now after this

It's even worse Weakened we're going to see that he's unable to even carry his cross

Fully up the hill this is why And it only got worse mark tells us that the

Soldiers take him back inside Away from the crowd back inside the governor's mansion there

And back in john 19 verses 2 and 3 And the soldiers twisted this is while they're inside the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed

Him in a purple robe And they came up to him saying hail king of the jews and struck him with their hands in the picture

Really if we put it all together from all the different scriptures It's just one after another

Just kind of mocking him and slapping him in his bloody face Now many emperors and kings in the ancient world when you were

Pictured You know when they did your official portrait or even when you were just out in public you'd wear like a crown and it you would usually be made of some sort of Flora and fauna, you know, uh ivy that kind of thing something pleasant to look at Well, they made something here, but this had gigantic thorns in it

Some of the sources I read said the thorns could be as long as a foot

And those were pressed into the head of jesus Matthew tells us that they put a reed in his hand to symbolize the scepter.

They're just the mocking goes on and on But for now the torture is finished

And pilot completes the humiliation Or at least pilot hopes so he brings him out verse 4

Pilot went out again and said to them See i'm bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in him innocent once innocent twice

This is an innocent man a man in whom there is no guilt now the third declaration of innocence

So jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe Pilot said to them

Behold the man Now as we read this or we could go to isaiah 53 and it is just Hard to visualize it's hard to imagine we grieve we weep but the soldiers who are there.

They're men trained in warfare And they're treating him as a sociopath might treat a victim

They had no feeling other than their contempt their amusement at the suffering of jesus even pilot employs sarcasm

Here when he says behold the man as if to say is this really somebody

I should be afraid of Are you guys sure that this is the guy that I should worry about?

this Wreck of a man You want me to be concerned about him?

Of course ironically for us It perfectly demonstrates the humanity of jesus.

He suffered But who were the most wicked men?

on this day I'd argue it was the priests

I'd argue that it was these religious leaders Listen to verse six the first half of it when the chief priest and officers saw him jesus.

They cried out crucify him crucify him These are the supposed holy ones the supposed mediators between men and god

And instead what are they doing? They're mediating with men, right? They're intervening with these

People in the crowd to do what? To put god to death

They're mediating exactly in the wrong way hendrickson says

Crucify crucify. It's kind of a it's an aorist tense So over and over and over again, these terrible words are yelled until they become a monotonous refrain an eerie ominous chant

Crucify crucify crucify they're leading the crowd in this chant to crucify jesus

In his mind pilot's done all that he can apart from risking the wrath of this ever -growing mob, right?

Which he does not want verse six pilot said to them

Take him yourselves and crucify him For I find no guilt in him

Take him yourselves. He says Crucify him because what? That's kind of like a jab at them.

He knows that they can't do it They don't have the authority to put him to death. He's the only one who can so he's like Take him yourselves.

You guys do the dirty work because i'm not going to do it for you and he declares him innocent a third time innocent innocent

Innocent, is that an accident? No when john repeats something and he doesn't hear three times.

It's four emphasis Why because we need the spotless lamb of god the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world has to be without sin

Now why so much suffering? It's hard to imagine. Why can't he just go to the cross? Why why can't we just skip all of this?

And go to the cross Why do you have to suffer in gethsemane? Why do you have to be arrested? Why do you have to be tried?

Why do you have to go through all this? John 10 17 says this for this reason the father loves me

Because I lay down my life Why was he laying down his life? for the sheep

What did it mean to lay down his life? It meant to just relinquish it to let whatever was going to happen to him happen to him

It was of no account why because he had to get to the cross And to go to the cross he had to go through all of this

He had to suffer all this So that he could suffer the ultimate suffering on the cross

Pilots these roman soldiers The jewish crowd the jewish leaders.

They were all instruments of god's justice showing the obedience the faithfulness of the lord jesus christ scripture declares

The legal and moral innocence of jesus one man describes it this way.

He says the bible expressly declares That jesus was sinless The writer of hebrews tells us that he was holy harmless undefiled and separate from sinners

The apostle paul boldly asserts that he knew no sin At the announcement of his birth an angel called him that holy one who is to be born

Pilate's wife told her husband have nothing to do with that righteous man

Pilate himself said I find no fault in him the dying thief

Acknowledged the innocence of jesus when he said this man Had done nothing wrong

The centurion at the foot of the cross said certainly this was a righteous man Even the demons recognized that he jesus is the holy one of god and of external testimony was not enough jesus bore witness to his sinlessness himself when he said the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true

And in him there is no falsehood The psalmist wrote of jesus

When he said behold, I have come to do your will. Oh god Your law is within my heart

Jesus life was a life of perfect conformity to the will of the father

One sin one transgression one failure Would render his death on the cross of no value why

Because it wouldn't be a spotless lamb up there it would be a spotted lamb Spurgeon in talking about jesus dealing with sin

Said this if you great god do undertake to put sin away. It can be done

But it can be done by none else. Only god could do it If all the angels in heaven had promised to clean or cleanse this agian stable, which is a filthy place

It would have remained as foul as ever And if all the sons of men had resolved to purify with fire this foul and loathsome world, it would have remained a very gehenna

But if you undertake it, oh you blessed son of god Without whom was not anything made that was made and by whom all things consist

Upholding all things as you do by the word of your power if you undertake the tremendous work

Then it will be done Our hope lies in christ's death

That's the only way of deliverance from the guild of sin And that was for god himself in human form to take the consequences of human sin upon himself

Spurgeon says would he ever think of doing such a thing? Could he ever condescend to do it?

He has done it In his infinite compassion He that possessed the royalties of heaven has doffed has left

His his kingly mantle and laid aside his crown and has come down here to dwell among us in human clay

And being here he has suffered he has bled he has died The just for the unjust that he might bring us to god

And he died for our sins, but he rose gloriously on the third day The charge for us today is believe on the lord.

Jesus christ and be saved think about this On judgment day those who are in christ those who believe in him those who have trusted completely in him

What do they deserve to hear when they appear before the judge? guilty guilty guilty

But that's not what they're going to hear It's going to be innocent innocent innocent his righteousness imputed to believers

Believe on the lord. Jesus christ and you will be saved. Let's pray father

What great and glorious truths? Are contained in your word? It boggles the mind that jesus would set his face like flint as it were to the cross determined Determined To overcome obstacle after obstacle after obstacle so that he might die the most painful of deaths

To die for the sins of his people to redeem us That we might have every sin forgiven

Father, I pray for anyone here who does not know you that today would be the day that you would save them

That you would pluck them As it were from the miry clay Put them on solid ground