Moore College Mission Joshua Russel

Today I want to tell you, first of all, about a building called the Domus Gelatiana,

which was unearthed in 1857, and it's in Rome.

It's on the Palatine Hill in Rome.

And in the building there's a picture which dates from about the 3rd century.

I wish I had it for you, but in the picture there's a young man to the left

who is making some kind of gesture with his hand,

and he's looking at a man to the right, a figure who is hanging on a cross

and has the head of a donkey.

And underneath the picture, written in Greek, but I'll translate it for you,

according to Wikipedia, it says,

Alexa Menos worships his God.

What an embarrassment.

How cutting.

No one else has to follow such an embarrassing leader.

The atheists follow intelligent scientists.

The Muslims follow the mighty Muhammad.

The Buddhists follow their peaceful, liberal Dalai Lama.

And the Hindus have so many to pick from, one of them has got to suit your tastes.

But for Christians, nothing is going to change the fact that we worship a pretty stupid-looking God,

a pretty pathetic-looking leader.

No one else follows such an embarrassing God.

Whoever heard of a God who was caught by his creatures and killed on a cross,

naked as the day he was born,

he was the laughingstock of the nations.

Yet Paul writes,

I am not ashamed of the gospel.

And his worshippers still sing,

thank you for the cross.

And we celebrate Good Friday.

In fact, we're on mission together this week,

just so that everybody knows

that we follow this embarrassing God.

So as we look at Luke chapter 23 together,

Luke 23 · chapter mention

tonight we're going to remember why.

And you will want to have it in front of you,

because we're going to move fairly swiftly through the story.

In verse 1,

the time has come,

the moment the scribes and the chief priests have been waiting for.

As Jesus had predicted,

and as they had planned,

they handed Jesus over to a Gentile,

a Roman governor.

The story then unfolds in three trials.

In trial 1,

Jesus stands before Pilate.

That's in verse 1 to 5.

In trial 2,

Jesus stands before Herod.

And in trial 3,

he's back in front of Pilate again.

Now as we look through these three trials together,

there are two main themes

that Luke highlights for us.

I'm going to flag them right up front,

and we'll see them as we go through.

Okay, firstly,

Luke shows us that Jesus is king.

So look out for that.

And secondly,

that he is innocent.

Okay,

those are the two themes,

that Jesus is king,

and that he is innocent.

Take a look at verse 2 in the first trial.

Although Jesus is accused of several different things,

they all boil down into one issue,

and that's Jesus' claim to be king.

You see,

Jesus is accused of misleading the nation.

How has he been doing that?

By opposing payment of taxes to Caesar.

Why has he been doing that?

They say,

because he claims to be king himself.

Now in verse 3,

Pilate asks,

are you the king of the Jews?

And Jesus' response is surprisingly vague.

Because,

I think it's because,

Pilate doesn't know what he's asking.

Really.

Pilate wants to know whether Jesus is out to overthrow the Roman rule.

Is Jesus an insurrectionist,

a terrorist,

trying to arouse a rebel army?

Now the answer to that,

of course,

is no.

Jesus says in John,

my kingdom is not of this world.

And actually,

if you look back as to whether Jesus opposed payment of taxes to Caesar,

he didn't.

But Jesus says,

you have said so,

because that isn't the full story,

is it?

Jesus is in fact the king of the Jews.

And that's exactly Luke's point.

Now,

whatever Pilate thinks this means,

he obviously doesn't think that Jesus is a threat to the civil order.

In verse 4,

he announces his verdict.

You see it there?

It seems to be a fairly clear-cut case.

Pilate says,

I find no basis for a charge against this man.

And this is the first declaration of Jesus' innocence in the chapter.

It is certainly not the last.

We've already seen our two themes,

haven't we?

Jesus' kingship,

is the issue in contention.

And Jesus' innocence is obvious.

That should have been the end of the story.

But instead,

the mob shout louder to get their point across.

They say,

he stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching.

He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.

Now,

during their little speech,

however,

Pilate spots a way out.

If Jesus is from Galilee,

he is under Herod's jurisdiction.

So,

Pilate sends Jesus off to Herod,

who happens to be staying about 10 minutes down the road.

And with that,

we come to the end of trial one.

We've seen those two main themes.

Jesus' kingship,

Jesus' innocence.

Before we launch into trial two,

which goes from verse 6 to 12,

let me just give you a taster of what's happened

previously between Herod and Jesus so far.

Okay,

previously on Herod and Jesus.

In chapter 13,

some Pharisees came to Jesus

and said to him,

leave this place and go somewhere else.

Herod wants to kill you.

Jesus replied,

in his usual calming way,

go tell that fox,

I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day,

for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem.

So,

meek and mild,

Jesus trying to smooth everything over.

How do you think

the trial between Herod and Jesus

is going to go down then?

You know?

Look at verse 8.

Knowing the background

certainly puts a different spin on verse 8,

don't you think?

When Luke says that

Herod was greatly pleased to see Jesus

because for a long time

he'd been wanting to see him,

it sounds more like a spider

pleased to have just caught a fly in his web

rather than a distant admirer.

meeting his celebrity hero.

But perhaps Herod is a genuine fan.

I mean, look at what Luke goes on to say.

Herod wanted to see Jesus

perform a sign of some sort.

Maybe that's not so sinister after all.

But that's only if you haven't read Luke 11 recently.

Now, some of us may have,

but for the rest of us,

let me remind you

what Jesus tells us about sign seekers.

You might want to turn there.

You don't have to,

but I'm going to be reading from verse 29

if you look at Luke 11.

As the crowds increased,

right,

Jesus is becoming very popular,

and to keep the crowd on side,

he says,

this is a wicked generation.

It asks for a sign,

but none will be given it

except the sign of Jonah.

For as Jonah was assigned to the Ninevites,

so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.

The Queen of the South,

or the Queen of Sheba,

if you've heard that name,

the Queen of the South

will rise at the judgment

with the people of this generation

and condemn them,

for she came from the ends of the earth

to listen to Solomon's wisdom,

and now something greater than Solomon is here.

The men of Nineveh will stand up

at the judgment with this generation

and condemn it,

for they repented at the preaching of Jonah,

and now something greater than Jonah is here.

So do you see what Jesus says about sign seekers?

This is a wicked generation.

See, Herod's sign seeking

is not such a positive thing after all, is it?

Luke tells us that sign seekers are evil

because, the reason in Luke 11 was,

because they do not, in fact,

listen to God's messengers, do they?

Did you see that?

They want to be amazed and entertained,

but not taught,

when signs are actually about teaching.

Herod is a typical sign seeker,

just like the crowds of people in Luke 11.

When he meets Jesus,

he wants to see magic tricks,

but he has failed to notice

that he is standing before

a prophet even greater than Jonah

and a king even greater than Solomon.

Jesus actually did many, many signs

which attested to who he was,

who he is,

but sign seekers don't pay attention

to what the signs actually say.

They just want to see magic tricks.

Herod should repent of his sins

like the Ninevites did

when Jonah came to them.

He should bow down in honor of the king

as the queen of the south did

when she met Solomon,

but that's not what he does.

Let's keep reading.

In verse 9,

he bombards Jesus with questions.

Jesus gives no reply.

Why do you think that is?

I don't think Herod will be listening.

You see, sign seekers

don't listen to God's messengers anyway.

What is the point?

Even worse though,

when Jesus refuses to answer his questions

and after the chief priests

and the teachers of the law

have had their go at accusing Jesus again,

Herod begins to mock Jesus' kingship.

Herod and his soldiers

ridiculed and mocked him,

dressing him in an elegant robe,

they sent him back to Pilate.

Now, I think the robe

reminds us of Solomon again.

Did it ring those bells for you?

You see, Solomon,

clothed in all his splendor,

is the archetypal Old Testament king.

You know, he's the bee's knees king

of the Old Testament.

The robe is certainly royal and kingly.

And you see,

the awful mistake

that Herod and his soldiers

have made,

and the terrible evil

that they are committing,

is that they are standing

before a king

greater than Solomon,

yet they mock him

as if he were a common jester

for their entertainment.

Not a king at all.

In fact, though,

the mockery

that Jesus endured that night

only further confirms

his identity

as God's anointed king.

You'd think

a palace

and a robe

and all that kind of thing

would confirm

someone's identity as king.

But you see,

the Old Testament

foreshadowed a king

who would come

and who would be mocked

and spit upon

and treated badly.

That's why we read

from Psalm 89.

Now, Psalm 89 was long

and I hope you were able

to follow all the way through.

If not, go over it again.

It's rockin' awesome.

Anyway,

back to Psalm 89,

the psalm,

the mood of the psalm

radically changes

halfway through.

Okay, so in the first half,

the psalmist begins

by recounting

God's amazing promises

to David,

the promises he gave

to David in 2 Samuel 7.

Okay, that one of David's sons,

one of David's descendants

would sit on his throne forever

and would conquer

all his enemies

and so on and so forth.

Would reign over

this perfect kingdom forever.

Okay.

But halfway through the psalm,

the mood changes dramatically

because the Lord

does not seem

to be keeping

his promise.

Let me read

from verse 49

of Psalm 89.

Lord,

where is your former

great love

which in your faithfulness

you swore to David?

Remember, Lord,

how your servant

has been mocked,

how I bear in my heart

the taunts

of all the nations,

the taunts

with which your enemies,

Lord,

have mocked,

with which they have mocked

every step

of your anointed one.

Do you see how

what God's anointed king

is experiencing

in the psalm

is fulfilled

in Jesus' experience

before Herod?

The mockery

that Jesus endured

in Luke 23

only further confirms

that Jesus

is God's anointed king

because that's what

God's people

are always taught

to expect.

Now,

before we move on

to trial three,

let's just think about this

just really briefly

in the 21st century

for a moment.

We still have

sign seekers

and mockers,

don't we?

People who say,

I will only follow Jesus

if he shows me a sign

or shows me a miracle

or appears to me

in some way.

And when he doesn't,

they mock us,

his people.

which Jesus takes

personally.

They mock us.

But friends,

remember that Jesus

is the king.

He has already

given us

plenty of evidence

of that.

It is just that

sign seekers

will not listen

to God's words,

to God's messengers.

Well,

finally,

let's go to trial three.

The third and final trial

begins in verse 13.

And much of the same ground

is repeated again.

I'm not going to cover it

in detail for the sake

of time.

But you see,

in the first half

of verse 14,

Jesus is accused

again.

In the second half,

Pilate declares

his innocence

again.

In verse 15,

we are told Herod's verdict

agrees with Pilate.

So even Herod

says Jesus has done

nothing to deserve death.

That's the third statement

of Jesus' innocence.

And in verse 16,

in light of all this,

we're told that

Pilate wants to punish

Jesus

and then release him.

It seems absurd

that he even wants

to punish him,

doesn't it,

really?

But he wants

to release him.

And from this point on,

there's one major question

that begins to overhang

the whole story.

Okay?

And that question is,

who will be released?

A prisoner called Barabbas

is introduced.

And it's either him

or Jesus.

As it becomes more

and more apparent

that it will be Barabbas,

our two themes

turn into two

tragic ironies.

We've seen as we've

gone through these trials

that Jesus is king

and that Jesus is innocent.

In the last scene,

we see that the crowd

want Barabbas to be released

even though he's not the king

and he's not innocent.

Now, the first irony then

is hidden in the meaning

of Barabbas' name.

Barabbas actually means

son of the father.

Bar meaning son

and Abba meaning father.

Right?

Now, you see,

the irony is

that the title

son of the father

is a title

often used

of God's

anointed king.

If you can think back

to the Old Testament again,

and we've already been

talking about 2 Samuel 7,

you might remember

when God promised David

that one of his descendants

would sit on the throne

over God's kingdom

forever,

God says

of that descendant,

of that son,

I will be to him

a father

and he shall be

to me

a son.

But Barabbas

is not the true

son of the father,

is he?

Not in that kingly sense.

Jesus is the true

son of the father,

the true king

descended from David

who will rule

over God's kingdom

forever.

Yet the crowd

don't want their king.

They demand

that Barabbas

be released,

the unworthy son,

the son whose name

only underscores

how inadequately

he has lived up to it.

Now the second irony

relates to our second theme.

Jesus is innocent

but the crowd

want Barabbas,

the guilty one,

to be released.

In verse 19

you'll see Luke

gives details

of Barabbas' crime.

He actually did

pretty much

exactly

what Jesus

is being accused of.

He was thrown

into prison

for an insurrection

in the city

and for murder

during that insurrection.

This was a crime

deserving of crucifixion

but the crowd

want Jesus

to be crucified.

You see in verse 20

we're told that

Pilate appealed

to the crowd

again

wanting to release Jesus

but they kept shouting

crucify him,

crucify him.

For the third time

he spoke to them

why?

What crime

has this man committed?

I have found in him

no grounds

for the death penalty.

That's at least

the fourth time

Jesus has been

declared innocent.

Who will be released?

Pilate says again

therefore

I will have him punished

and then release him.

But with loud shouts

they insistently demanded

that he be crucified.

And their shouts prevailed.

So Pilate decided

to grant their demand.

He released

the man

who had been thrown

into prison

for insurrection

and murder.

Notice how Luke's

already spelled that out.

He doesn't just call him

Barabbas.

He spells out again

the guilty one.

The guilty one

was released

because he was the one

they asked for

and they surrendered

Jesus to their will.

And with that

we come to the end

of our passage.

I want to close

with just two

implications

that come out

the two main themes

and the two

tragic ironies

that we've been

looking at.

Okay?

So these three trials

have shown us

that Jesus is innocent

and that he is king.

That is clear as day,

right?

Let's look at the

implications of Jesus'

innocence

and the implications

of Jesus' kingship.

Number one,

the fact that Jesus

was innocent

means that when,

means that he was not

taking the punishment

for his own sin.

That is the heart

of the good news

that we find

in this passage.

Barabbas is a wonderful

picture of that,

isn't he?

Jesus took the punishment

for Barabbas' sin,

didn't he?

And what the Bible

tells us is that

this is actually

what he's done

for all of us,

for all those

who trust in Jesus.

Just like Barabbas,

we have all been

inadequate sons

of our heavenly Father.

And we have all

rebelled against

his rightful rule

over us.

Because of that,

we all deserve

to be punished

by him.

But Jesus,

when he died

on the cross,

he died in our place

as our substitute.

All those

who trust in Jesus

get to go free

because Jesus

has taken

our punishment.

It's just

a simple swap.

It's not

too complicated,

really.

Children do this

on the playground.

It's a simple swap.

See,

we are treated

as innocent

because he was

treated as guilty.

This is the only way

to be freed

from the punishment

you deserve.

last of all,

let's talk about

the implications

of Jesus' kingship.

Because Jesus

was and is

God's true son,

death could not

hold him

as the Old Testament

also foretold,

and Jesus rose

from the dead

on the third day

to take his place

on his throne

until the time

when he will return

to judge

all the world.

On that day,

the Bible tells us,

no one will be

at all embarrassed

or ashamed

to be associated

with Jesus.

In fact,

all those

who had judged

Jesus

unworthy of their

honor and respect

will find that

when he returns

to judge them,

the sheer sight

of him will

terrify them.

And that will be

only the beginning

of their eternal

suffering.

I'm afraid

we've got to end here.

There is a day coming,

says the book

of Revelation,

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1,

when Jesus Christ,

who is the true ruler

of the kings

of the earth,

isn't that a scary

title for Herod

and Pilate,

who is the true ruler

of the kings

of the earth,

who loves us

and has freed us

from our sins

by his blood,

will return.

And he will come

with the clouds

and every eye

will see him,

even those

who pierced him.

And all the peoples

on earth

will mourn

because of him.

Do you see?

King Jesus

will not put up

with rebellion

forever.

forever.

So I plead

with you,

if you haven't

already,

before it is too

late,

show him honor.

I'm not

mucking about.

I'm not just

preaching

because I have

a slot.

And it almost,

I'm not forcing you,

but it is

going to happen.

You know,

we need to be

prepared for this

event that is

going to happen.

Show this one

honor.

Bow down

and adore him

for his love

towards you.

Lest when he

returns

and you have

yet refused him,

you will weep

and wail

and suffer

eternal torment

at his

hand.

He will be

gentle with you

now,

but there comes

a day when he

will not be.

If you have

already bowed

the knee to

King Jesus,

first of all,

make sure that

you live that

way by obeying

his word.

You are in

his kingdom.

You have been

transferred from

the kingdom of

darkness into

his good kingdom.

Live that way.

It's a good way

to live.

You don't live

that way to get

into the kingdom,

but you live that

way because you

are in this good

kingdom.

kingdom.

So live that

way.

Secondly,

remember that

he loves you.

Think about

what he has

done for you.

Thirdly,

pray for your

friends who

don't yet know

him and warn

them.

Please pray this

week as we go

together on

mission to the

lost.

This is

wonderful.

Please use

this.

This would be

great to focus

your prayers on,

especially,

where is it?

If you look at

it, especially

Friday the 22nd,

the last bullet

point, that guy

there in desperate

need of your

prayers.

Please pray for

this Joshua Russell

fellow.

Anyway, please

pray for us.

Pray for the

coming of Christ's

kingdom.

Pray that it will

come soon.

because at that

day, every eye

will finally see

that Jesus

deserves praise

and honor and

glory.

Amen and

amen.

Come, Lord

Jesus.

Let's pray about

that now.

Gracious Father,

we thank you so

much for sending

your Son, who

though he was

innocent, he bore

our punishment.

Though he was

king, he was

mocked and

treated scornfully.

Father, we know

that he is

coming again

and will gather

to himself all

those who have

bowed the knee

to him.

We pray that you

would speed that

day and that there

would be many

people on that

day worshipping

him, praising

him for his love

towards them.

We pray that you

would help us to

take the gospel to

those who do not

yet know him, to

bring them into

his kingdom

before it's too

late, before they

are crushed under

the force of his

kingdom.

We pray for his

glory and for

their good.

Amen.