Convicting The Son Of God - [John 19:7-16]

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John chapter 19. This week, just thinking about all the drama of these trials,
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I decided to look up the most famous trial movies of all time, and I found a database of 70 movies.
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And I'm not going to tell you any of them. I thought 70 was an interesting number, you know, mostly because it's not 50, and it's not 100.
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So right about there, you know, they're like, here are the top 70. I guess after that, it just sort of drops off a cliff.
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But I thought, why so many movies? About trials, about justice, about juries.
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There's an American fascination with the topic. I mean, if I asked you, you could name some of your favorite movies.
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I'm not going to. But you could name them. You can recite lines from those movies.
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Now, if I asked you what the Sixth Amendment was, probably most of you couldn't get that. But it has to do with trials.
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Here are some of the aspects of a trial. And just keep in mind, I'm going to bring, you know, Scripture to bear on this.
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But just think about Jesus as we do this, and I'll help you along. The Sixth Amendment is the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury.
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Now, as you think about Jesus, did he have a speedy trial? Oh, it was speedy. I mean, it was the drive -through.
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I mean, just there it was done. A few hours. Trials sometimes take years in the
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United States. Now, what about public? Was it public a little bit?
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Some of it was. A lot of it wasn't. I mean, if you were up at 3 o 'clock in the morning and wandering around, you might have stumbled into, you know, some of it.
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But the answer is, not really. How about an impartial jury? A jury of his peers.
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First of all, he doesn't have any peers. But secondly, this jury was not impartial. How about a notice of the charges against him?
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What was he being charged with? The answer is no. They were basically making it up as they went along.
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In fact, I said last week that at one point they almost accused him of mopery, which is a real or imagined crime.
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It's a nothing crime. It's not even, you know, it's vagrancy. It's nothing. How about the right to confront the witnesses against you?
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There were no witnesses. There was no evidence. This was a mock.
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It was a sham of a trial. How about you have the right to assistance of counsel?
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You have the right to have an attorney. And if you can't afford one, one will be appointed for you. No. None of that.
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There was nobody with Jesus. As an example of justice, this is the biggest injustice of all time.
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As an example of trials, this is the biggest mockery of trials of all time.
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R .C. Sproul was once asked, he said, or they said, they asked him, they said, why do bad things happen to good people?
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Tom's nodding because he knows the answer. What did R .C. say? He famously said it happened once.
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And he volunteered. One time in all of history, did a bad thing happen to a good person?
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Why could he say that? Because there's no one good but God, Jesus Christ alone.
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Everything during these last hours leading to the crucifixion, really ultimately was no less wicked than the cross itself, right?
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I mean, everything that was done to Jesus was wrong, was sinful. In fact, we would not be straining it to say that this is the full power of the kingdom of darkness coming against the king of light.
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This is Satan doing everything in his power to cause suffering and pain upon the
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Lord Jesus. Now let's read our text. I'm going to start John chapter 19, verse 1.
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We covered some of this last week, but I want to read it so that we'll have a better picture.
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19 .1. Then Pilate took
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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.
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They came up to him saying, hail, king of Jews, king of the Jews, and struck him with their hands.
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Pilate went out again and said to them, see, I am bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.
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So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, behold, the man.
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When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, crucify him, crucify him.
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Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.
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The Jews answered him, we have a law. And according to that law, he ought to die because he has made himself the son of God.
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When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid.
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He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, where are you from?
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But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, you will not speak to me.
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Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?
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Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.
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Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. From then on,
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Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are not
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Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. So when
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Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat him down on the judgment seat at a place called the stone pavement and an
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Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation of the
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Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, behold, your king.
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They cried out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, shall
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I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar.
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So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. Now, over the past few weeks, we've seen
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Jesus brought before Annas, kind of the power behind the
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Sanhedrin, the former high priest. But he was scheming. He was crafty.
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He was still basically calling the shots for the Sanhedrin. And this was an informal hearing done in the middle of the night, completely illegal.
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But Annas was the man with the most power. He was feared and respected. And while Jesus was before him, if you recall, they gathered together the members of the
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Sanhedrin. They went out and gathered them all up and brought them to Caiaphas's mansion so that they could have a legitimate hearing.
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I just did air quotes. Sorry. So they could have a legitimate hearing.
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Before Annas, the chief priest, the high priest in name anyway, he was the man in charge, at least placed by the
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Romans. And this religious trial of Jesus was conducted early in the morning, just after dawn, just after six o 'clock.
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And its goal was to get Jesus to incriminate himself. They had no witnesses and they had no interest in a fair trial.
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They had already decided his fate. They had long decided, long ago decided his fate. Caiaphas had even pronounced it after Jesus had called, excuse me, called
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Lazarus out of the tomb. They decided they were going to kill him. Why?
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They were angry because he was interrupting their profiteering. He made sport of their profiteering by going into the temple and turning over tables.
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He was interrupting the family business, as it were. And they were also concerned that if they didn't eliminate him, that he represented a threat to them and their rule over the
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Jewish people. Now, it was a rule given to them by the Romans, but they didn't want anything to come before their profit and their power.
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Now, last week, we saw Jesus before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor over Judea, the southern half of Israel, and also specifically over Jerusalem.
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And he's in town, along with some extra Roman soldiers, because of the
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Passover. They want to make sure that they keep a lid on the Jews and there's no rioting and there's no outbreaks of violence.
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And if you recall, three times, Pilate says of Jesus that he's innocent.
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In fact, that was in 1838, he says, I find no guilt in him. In 1904,
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I find no guilt in him. In 1906, I find no guilt in him. Innocent, innocent, innocent.
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And in any kind of legitimate trial, that would be it. An innocent man, a man in whom there is no guilt, even a righteous man would be released.
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That would be the outcome we would expect. But that's not what happens.
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Pilate has a jury, so to speak, really a mob that he's trying to appease. And he's afraid of angering the
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Sanhedrin by releasing Jesus. As I said, Jerusalem's packed for the holiday.
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And if the people start getting stirred up, it could get ugly and his job could be on the line.
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So he doesn't want the Sanhedrin to get the people excited, to get them in a rebellious mood.
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But Pilate not only declared Jesus innocent, he tried to convince the Jews, if you'll recall, that they should release him, right?
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He brought out the worst man in Jerusalem, the most notorious man, Barabbas.
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And he said, listen, would you rather release Barabbas, this horrible excuse for a human being, or this beaten, downtrodden, bleeding man,
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Jesus? He tried flogging
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Jesus, he wanted to release him. But if you recall, when he says, how about I release
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Barabbas, remember, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders, went out among the people, and they were like the rudder steering the mob.
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They were inciting the mob to release Barabbas instead of Jesus.
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And finally, as we just read, Pilate mocked the Jews, inviting them to crucify
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Jesus. Look, he's innocent, you guys crucify him yourselves. Because he knew that he alone had that authority, they couldn't.
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And this morning, we will see the religious leaders level a new charge at Jesus.
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One that sends Pilate reeling. I mean, he wants this thing over, and they put this new charge out there, and he doesn't know what to do.
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It ultimately leads to the unjust, I'll call it conviction, I want to use air quotes again, the conviction of Jesus.
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So this morning, we're going to see this new charge, four phases of this so -called trial here this morning.
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The new charge, the response of Pilate, then the third stage, the threat of the
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Jews, and the fourth, the verdict. So the first phase, the new charge.
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What is that new charge? Here it is. He claims to be God. Look at the text, verse seven.
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The Jews answered him, we have a law. And according to that law, he ought to die, because he has made himself the son of God.
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The Jewish leaders now tried to, or they previously tried to get
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Pilate to crucify him without charges, right? I said mopery. Well, in 1830, they said this, if this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.
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In other words, he's just a bad guy. Just put him to death. Trust us.
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It's not like Jesus meant anything to Pilate. He was just another
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Jew, and thousands of Jews would be crucified. So in essence, they're saying, why not just crucify another one?
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He's just a Jew, just kill him. But that didn't work. And then if you recall, they tried turning him into some kind of rabble rouser, some sort of revolutionary, some sort of threat to his rule.
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That didn't work. Pilate found him innocent of that. So now they're going to accuse him of blasphemy.
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They say, we have a law. What is that law? It's Leviticus 26, 16. It says this, whoever blasphemes the name of the
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Lord shall surely be put to death. Now, sometimes we hear, don't blaspheme the name of the
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Lord, or don't take the name of the Lord in vain. And that's when people use it as a cuss word, we think.
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Well, think about that. If we put somebody to death every time the name of the
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Lord was taken, then there'd be a lot of death going around. Whoever blasphemes the name of the
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Lord shall surely be put to death. Listen, all the congregation shall stone him. Now, that's what they did to David.
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They do it to others. That's what the Jews would do, but I'm sorry, not David, Stephen.
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That's what they would do with someone they decided was blasphemous, right? But that was mob action.
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This isn't a mob action. This is a judicial action. So they come before Pilate and they say, listen, literally they say, son of God, he himself has made.
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In other words, they put son of God first. They emphasize that. That charge has substantial evidence for it.
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I'm just going to go through a series of scriptures now, and we can just sort of evaluate this evidence for ourselves, straight from Jesus in the beginning, at least.
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Listen, John 3 .16. Sometimes we hear that scripture a lot. We forget it's
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Jesus who's speaking. Listen, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
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After Jesus healed the invalid, man who had been an invalid for 38 years on the
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Sabbath. We read this in John 5 .18. This was why the
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Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, talking about Jesus. Because not only was he breaking the
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Sabbath, but listen, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.
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John 8 .53 and 54. Are you greater than our father Abraham who died and the prophets died?
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Who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing.
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It is my father who glorifies me of whom you say he is our
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God. John 10 .30. I and the father are one.
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Famous, right? What happens right away? The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
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Jesus answered them, I've shown you many good works from the father. For which of them are you going to stone me?
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Why are you going to put me to death? The Jews answered him, it is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy.
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Because you being a man, make yourself God. The original audience understood very well what he was saying.
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Even during the hearing before Caiaphas, if you recall, Matthew 26 .63
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-65. Just listen as I read this. But Jesus remained silent and the high priest said to him,
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I adjure, I command you, by the living God, tell us if you are the
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Christ, the son of God. Jesus said to him, you have said so, but I tell you from now on, you will see the son, the son of man, seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.
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In other words, yes, I am. And I'll be seated at his right hand, at the father's right hand.
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As I rightly belong. Verse 65, then the high priest tore his robes and said, he has uttered blasphemy.
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What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy.
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Now in a real trial, you know what you really want, ultimately is you want, if you're innocent, the best defense is what?
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The truth, right? You didn't do it and you just present the truth and you walk.
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However, the Sanhedrin aren't really interested in the truth, right? I mean, what if he is God? They don't care about that.
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Now, this charge of blasphemy that he's making himself out to be the son of God. It seems like if you recall,
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I mean, since pilot really isn't interested in settling some sort of religious disputes, why do they even bring this up?
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Because they know this, that as kind of sub rulers under Roman authority, the
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Romans allowed them to, first of all, have their own religion, as long as it didn't conflict with paying their taxes and that kind of thing.
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But they also allowed them a great deal of autonomy, right? They would respect local law, as long as it was in keeping with the overall
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Roman picture. And as long as it wasn't going to inflict the death penalty, because that they reserved, as I said last week, for themselves.
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But if we think about it from Rome or from pilots perspective, he, his response should be, you say, he's the son of God.
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I don't care, right? You want to persecute him for blasphemy. I don't care. Not my problem.
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I'm not a Jew, like he said last week, but that's not how he responds. So the first one is this new charge, first phase, this new charge.
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Second, the response of pilot. Look at verse eight. When pilot heard this statement, he was even more afraid.
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Now it's fair to say that pilot wasn't a religious person. In fact, I would say this, that like many unbelievers you'll come across, he could be described as spiritual.
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He believed in something greater than himself, but certainly not in the
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God of the Bible. Maybe he was just superstitious, right?
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His wife sends him this messenger and the messenger tells him about the wife's dream.
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What does he do? He wants to release Jesus. Why? Because she said, have nothing to do with that righteous man.
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Don't put Jesus on the cross. I had a dream about him. I was troubled by that dream.
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You ought not to put that righteous man on the cross. Now, here are some of the
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Jews saying that he's, he's claimed to be the son of God. If his wife had given him pause and made him not want to put
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Jesus on the cross, this idea of Jesus being the son of God creates fear in him.
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He was a little worried before. Now he's definitely worried. He's afraid. Why? Because the
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Romans, if you know Roman mythology, their gods are nothing like the God of the Bible. Their gods did all kinds of things just like people do.
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Sometimes they even mixed with people and there were all kinds of half gods and demigods and gods disguised as human beings.
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And so the not religious but superstitious pilot is sitting there and he's going, what if this
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Jesus, whom I flogged, whom I've allowed to be mocked, who's now wearing this crown of thorns, who's beaten beyond measure, what if he's some sort of God in disguise?
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What if he's some sort of half God? And I've treated him like this. I'm in a lot of trouble. What am
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I going to do when he reveals himself to be who he is? What if he really is some sort of son of God?
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I mean, was pilot about to get the shock of his life? You know, the big reveal?
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So verse nine, he entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, where are you from?
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But Jesus gave no answer. He'd been outside addressing the Jews. He goes back inside where Jesus is.
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He wants to find out what sort of, what son of God was all about.
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And it's interesting what he says, where are you from? Not who are you? What manner of man are you?
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But where are you from? I mean, it'd be Greek, right?
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Say Mount Olympus, but the Romans have some equivalent of that, which escapes me at the moment.
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I didn't study mythology this week. Where are you from?
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But Jesus doesn't answer. Well, why not? Well, in part, maybe because he already has, right?
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In 1837, he said, I have come into this world, into the world to bear witness to the truth.
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We talked about this last week. Who could say that I have come into the world? Nobody says that.
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You come into the world, you've come from someplace else. Well, he came from the father's right hand side, from the father's side.
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But he was not from someplace that Pilate could comprehend. He doesn't answer.
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Verse 10, so Pilate said to him, you will not speak to me. Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?
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This really is a kind of, do you know who I am moment, right?
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Jesus, do you know who I am? I have authority over life and death.
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I'm far more important than you. In fact, I think it would be fair to say that, even if we think about Psalm 82, that in essence, having the power of life and death, not only is the power of God, but it makes a man feel like a
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God, right? So there's Pilate saying, do you know who I am?
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I am the one with authority over you. How dare you sit there and not answer me?
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The text tells us that Pilate was more afraid. And so what does he do? He responds to that fear.
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He lashes out. He wants to compel Jesus to give him an answer, but Jesus isn't afraid.
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Verse 11, he says this. Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.
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Pilate thinks he's in charge. Jesus is a pathetic shell of a man physically.
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He's been beaten, pummeled with fists, had his beard plucked out.
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He's wearing a crown of gigantic thorns pressed into his head.
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He's been spat upon, mocked endlessly. He's been flogged, which, as I said last week, would kill a lot of people.
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But this is a teachable moment, and Jesus teaches. Pilate's authority over life and death is a weighty responsibility to be sure, but it is a delegated responsibility.
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It is granted from on high to him. Every authority that exists in this world, whether it's parents, whether it's government, and even
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Pilate, is established by God, right? Paul writes about that, and Jesus says the same thing.
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Again, in verse 11, continuing, therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.
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Who's he describing? Who's he referring to when he says, he who delivered me over to you?
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Some analysts say Judas. Some say it's Caiaphas. Some say it doesn't matter.
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I think it is Caiaphas. Both knew that Jesus had done nothing wrong, and it was for wicked purposes that both betrayed him.
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Judas betrayed him, and Caiaphas wanted him put to death. But I think
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Caiaphas is the one referred to here. Caiaphas was no well -meaning keeper of the religious flame.
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He wasn't just some placeholder protecting Judaism from this interloper.
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He was out to eliminate a threat to his wealth and power. There was nothing either ignorant, innocent, or noble about Caiaphas.
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Now, Jesus isn't saying that Pilate is innocent, but he is saying that Caiaphas, knowing better, knowing the law, and knowing about the
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Messiah, should have known better and yet didn't. So he has the greater sin.
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What's most striking about this passage, though, is it clearly teaches that God is sovereign and man is responsible.
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God gave these men their authority. In other words, Pilate had his authority from God. Caiaphas had his authority from God.
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They chose to use it as they did. And as they did so, they were accomplishing
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God's purpose. In fact, in 40 -plus days at the day of Pentecost, Peter is going to preach this in Acts chapter 2, verse 23.
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This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you, talking to this crowd of Jewish people, crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
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God sovereignly ordained these things. He brought them to pass, and these men are responsible for what they do.
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Both are true. Now, this is
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Pilate's response to what Jesus says. Verse 12. From then on,
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Pilate sought to release him. Again, Pilate wants to release him.
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He listens to what Jesus says, and in his mind, he's still innocent.
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He's still no threat. His desire is to let Jesus go. Now, John doesn't tell us exactly what
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Pilate's doing right now. He's already tried the Barabbas thing. He's tried different ways to let him go. He's declared him innocent multiple times.
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He doesn't specify how he tries to let him go, but he does give us the response of the
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Jews, and we're going to see that first. Okay. Phase 1. The new charge.
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Blasphemy. He's claiming to be the Son of God. Secondly, the response of Pilate, which was to investigate it, try to sort out what that meant.
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Now we see the threat of the Jews. Phase 3. Again, in verse 12, the second part of it.
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He's trying to release him, but the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are not
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Caesar's friend. When the ESV says that the Jews cried out, that's a good translation in terms of our
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English, but the verb, the Greek verb, means to utter a loud sound.
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It means that it has a harsh texture. It kind of gives us the idea that it's an animal -like noise, and I think it would almost be right to say this.
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I think it would be right to say it was a shrieking or a howling. Something almost un -understandable.
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So I read it again, and I said, they were shrieking. That would be right. They were howling.
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That would be right. And whatever gut check Pilate has just passed, whatever made him think, you know what,
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I'm going to release him anyway. I'm going to try to release him. I'm going to do that. Whatever momentary courage he had dissipates.
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It's gone. It evaporates. He's intimidated by the crowd now.
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Verse 12 again. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. Here's the message from the
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Jews to Pilate. This man made himself, Jesus, made himself out to be a king.
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You've rejected that. We have to kind of wonder, who are you loyal to?
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This is a political threat. The Jews had previously made a report to the
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Caesar, and they could do it again. Tiberius, it was about a year or two later, killed one of the mentors of Pilate, who was a ruler above Pilate in the chain of command.
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Tiberius was ruthless, and anyone who didn't toe the line was dealt with severely. So when they say, listen, if you're not going to deal with this
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Jesus, we're going to let Caesar know. We're going to have to report your treachery.
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Sorry about that, mate. Bad day, bad luck for you. Now, the irony here is rich.
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These Jews hated Rome. They hated Caesar. They wanted to be free from pagan rule, but the friend of my friend, kind of the enemy of my enemy, they were willing to go to Caesar to get at Pilate.
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And in this moment, their hatred for Jesus was such that they would appeal to anything. His reluctance to dismiss the charges, his unwillingness to release
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Jesus, he could have, he should have, he declared him innocent. Now they're going to say that he's disloyal if he doesn't put him on the cross.
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And really what ultimately has happened is his kind of delaying a decision has painted him into a corner, and Pilate knows it.
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He doesn't, the one thing he doesn't want, besides a riot, is he doesn't want to get basically ratted out to the
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Caesar. So we've seen the new charge, the response of Pilate, the threat of the
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Jews, and now the verdict. As Pilate prepares for judgment, we read verse 13.
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So when Pilate heard these words, he responds to these words from the Jews. He brought
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Jesus out. So he's been outside, he goes back in, gets Jesus, comes out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the stone pavement and an
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Aramaic Gabbatha. This moment, foreordained before the foundation of the world, weighed heavily on Pilate.
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He didn't want to do this, but he felt compelled to do it.
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And without his decision, Jesus won't go to the cross. What Pilate doesn't want to do, what the
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Sanhedrin desperately wants him to do, because they didn't have the power to do, is exactly what
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Satan wants them to do. This is kind of, if we think about, go all the way back to the fall, go all the way back to Genesis 3 .15,
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and the curse that God puts on Adam and Eve and Satan.
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And what does he say? He says, my paraphrase, that through this woman, through Eve, would come one who would do what?
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Crush the serpent's head. Defeat Satan. This is
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Satan's moment. He's going to stop Genesis 3 .15
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from coming true. This is going to be victory over Eve's offspring. Victory over Jesus.
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Victory over the one born of a virgin. Pilate sits down on the bema seat.
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That's the word there. This is the place of authority to pass judgments.
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Pilate the weak, Pilate the sinful, Pilate the ineffectual, is going to pass judgment on the one who one day will judge him.
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He's going to convict, essentially, the sinless one. But first, there's more mocking.
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Look at verse 14. Now, it was the day of preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.
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He said to the Jews, behold your king. Friday morning.
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Again, Jesus beaten up. And if we just think about it this way, how is he mocking? He's mocking
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Jesus, obviously, and calling him a king. But he's mocking them, the Jews. He's saying, this man reflects you.
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You're beaten. We beat you. You're helpless. We own you.
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You can't rebel against us. There's nothing you can do. And this man perfectly reflects your weakness.
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I think he rather enjoyed saying that to them. Verse 15.
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They cried out, away with him. Away with him. Crucify him. Again, shrieking.
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That's what that verb means. They shriek at Pilate.
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They want Jesus put to death so bad that they ignore his jab at them.
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They ignore his insult. They don't care about what Pilate says. They want what they want. They want
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Jesus on that cross. And then the last bit of mocking from Pilate. Pilate said to them, shall
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I crucify your king? In the Greek, your king comes first.
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He's emphasizing the fact that this is the king of the Jews. And even though he is absolutely ignorant of the truth of it, his words are true.
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Jesus is the king of Israel. He is the long -awaited Messiah. But look at how the
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Jews respond with their sort of empty pledge of allegiance.
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I mean, I can just imagine the Sanhedrin sitting there now, knowing that they hate everything about Rome, the
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Caesar and everything. Here they are, basically, hand over heart, solemnly. The chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar.
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We love Caesar. May he rule forever over us.
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Their king, their rightful king, the Messiah, was placed before them. And what did they do?
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They rejected him. It's just as John said in John chapter 1. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
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They rejected him. Instead, they professed their loyalty to Tiberius, a tyrant, an ungodly tyrant.
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If Pilate was putting the sarcasm on thick, if he was just laying it on heavy, just trying to just push it in their face, like, oh yeah, you want to crucify
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Jesus? I'm going to mock you, mock you, mock you. And they're like, you know what?
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We'll mock you right back. We love Caesar. We're loyal to Caesar. Again, we're on Friday morning,
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Passover, day before Passover, morning before Passover. Here's one of the
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Passover prayers that they would pray in just a few hours. Now, just listen to this and think about it. They would pray this, talking to God, Yahweh.
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Reign over us, you alone. In this moment, all of that goes out the window.
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All their professed and acted out religion gets thrown out.
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And all they want is Jesus dead. Jesus, thrice declared innocent, and yet sentenced to death.
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Verse 16, so he, Pilate, delivered him over to them to be crucified.
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So who does he give Jesus to? Well, not the Jews. They still don't have the power to crucify him.
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What he did, as we'll see here in a moment, is he gave them what they wanted. And by doing that, he turned them over, he turned
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Jesus over to, I don't know what I want to call them, basically the crucifixion squad, the people who were going to be crucifying people later.
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He's going to be between these two thieves while they're already waiting their crucifixion. To just kind of fill this out, looking at two other
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Gospels, what else takes place? First, Barabbas, that horrible human being, the terrorist, is set free.
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Luke 23, 24, and 25 tell us this. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted.
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He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked.
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Listen, but he delivered Jesus over to their will. Matthew 27, verses 24 and 25.
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So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing with the crowd, but rather that a riot was beginning, everything that he feared was about to happen, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying,
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I am innocent of this man's blood, which was false. See to it yourselves.
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And listen to the haunting verse here in verse 25. This is the crowd, these religious leaders, these followers.
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Verse 25, and all the people answered, his blood be on us and on our children.
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They take an oath. Yes, we gladly do this. We want Jesus dead so bad that whatever the guilt is, we want it.
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Jesus, the Son of God, three times declared innocent, is convicted and sentenced to death.
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I say, you know, what was he convicted of? Without any witnesses, without a jury, without anything?
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Well, he's convicted of being the Son of God, which the
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Jews claim to be blasphemy because they believe that Jesus was not telling the truth.
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And that's the issue for everyone. If Jesus isn't God veiled in human flesh, if he's not the second person of the
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Trinity, born of a virgin, who came into this world to save sinners from the righteous wrath of a holy
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God, if that's not who he is, then his death is of no consequence.
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He's just another one of the thousands of Jews who was put to death. But listen to what he said in Luke 9 .22,
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the Son of Man talking about himself, his favorite title for himself, must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.
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The Son of Man, the only begotten of the Father, the Son of God had to die for us. As Henry Law said, if the height of heaven were the pulpit, if the peeling thunder were the voice, if the universe were the audience, no more worthy utterance could sound than that the blood of Jesus blots out sin, because the blood of Jesus is the blood of God.
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Jesus had to die for us. There had to be that sacrifice for sin that we might become the righteousness of God.
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Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, as we just consider this sham of a trial, we think about the endurance, the patience, the sinlessness, the spotlessness of Jesus Christ, the
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Passover lamb, the one who came that we might be delivered from the penalty of sin.
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Father, we thank you for his life, for his suffering and even his death on the cross.
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Father, we thank you that you accepted that death as payment in full for our sin. And you displayed that by raising him from the dead on the third day.
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Lord, we would pray that you would renew these truths to those of us who have been just kind of going through the motions, that you would fix these truths in our mind, not just on Sunday morning, but every day of the week.
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We will pray for those who don't know you, who are listening today and just thinking, what's the big deal about Jesus?
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They would listen and know that he is the son of God and redemption is available only through him.
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Father, we thank you for Jesus and we pray in Jesus' precious name. Amen.