Jesus Before Pilate | Frank Brancaato

It's wonderful to be here together today and to worship

God. And as I look over the audience,

we have a great crowd here, even though we have, as Terry

mentioned, so many of our members that are sick or hurt or

recovering or maybe at other places traveling.

But we have a great crowd because you're here today.

And I've looked forward to worshiping with you.

And I hope that what we have to discuss in our lesson will be

encouraging and helpful to you. We're continuing our series that

I started from the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was

arrested in the garden, and now we are where Jesus was taken

before pilot. And I'm just going to say that

this is actually a two-part lesson because there's so many

things that happened when Jesus was taken before pilot.

We cannot cover all of it in one sermon.

Usually when we talk about Jesus before Pilate, we talk about the

things that Pilate did that sent Jesus directly to the cross.

For example, when he was beaten and scourged and spit upon.

Then when he was taken and nailed to a Roman cross.

And we talk about those things when he went before Pilate, but

before that happened. These verses in John 18, verses

John 18:28–38

28 through 38 are very, very significant.

And often times we just read over them without going very

deep into them because we want to get to exactly the climax of

and teach on the climax of what happened to Jesus.

Let me just say before I go any further, that John 18, verses 28

John 18:28–38

through 38 is very significant. And it's very significant for

three reasons and in three ways. Number one in Jewish history #2

by way of Roman history and #3 and most importantly by way of

prophetic history or the fulfillment of the prophecies

from Jesus Christ or about Jesus Christ himself.

So where are we right now in our narrative?

Jesus has been arrested in the garden.

He was taken in the middle of the night before Anis.

And that was really the arraignment part, you would say,

of the religious trial. Remember, the trial was twofold.

It was religious and it was also civil, meaning religious before

Israel, civil before Rome. Jesus had been arrested.

He's taken to Anis and then also in the middle of the night, he's

taken before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin.

In the middle of the night, the very next morning, he's taken

before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin.

Once again, the mock trial. But the only way that they could

legally crucify Jesus or execute Jesus, which is all they wanted

to do, is he had to go to pilot. He had to go to Rome.

And the reason for that is during this period of Jewish

history, they were living under the oppressive thumb of Rome.

They were living under Rome's control.

I want to say this though, about the Jewish courts and what they

were actually allowed to do, living under the bondage of Rome

and under the laws of Rome. Rome actually gave Jews their

own laws and said, you know what?

You can have your own laws, you can have your own courts.

And that's why it was legal to actually have the 71 member

Sanhedrin, which would, I guess I don't know a better way to put

it. It was the highest court you can

imagine under Judaism. It would be considered like the

Supreme Court among the Jews. That was legal.

What else could they do? They could have their own laws,

they could even administer their own laws, and they could even

inflict punishments to some degree regarding the breaking of

those laws under religion or under Israel or under Judaism.

OK, But they were limited. They were limited when it came

to a capital case. They could not execute somebody

legally because as we know, the right of the sword belonged to

Rome. But what I want to notice this

morning is, why is that significant?

Why is it significant that the Jews had to go to pilot?

Nothing, by the way, in the Scriptures is by happenstance.

Nothing is a coincidence. I don't believe in that at all.

I like what Joe Heisler said one time.

He said, you know what coincidence is?

It's Providence Incognito. That's just free.

I'm going to tell you something. There's no coincidence in the

Scriptures. They went to pilot for a reason.

They went to pilot. Not only legally did they have

to, but they went to Pilate because prophecy determined how

Jesus was going to die. Bible says that Jesus was to be

lifted up. Do you remember what they

accused Jesus after the religious trial?

What did they say? They said when they were so

angry and they tore their clothes and they were so mad,

they said blasphemy. Why?

He said I am the Son of God. When Jesus said that that's all

they could stand. They tore their clothes, they

were angry and they said blasphemy.

OK, what does the Bible say in the Old Testament about somebody

that would blasphemy in Leviticus 24 and 16?

Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to

death. All the congregation shall

certainly stone him, the stranger, as well as him who is

born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of

the Lord, he shall be put to death.

All right. Had Jesus been executed anytime

before Roman rule, you know what would have happened?

They would have taken Jesus. They would have in a mob

mentality, they would have stoned him to death.

And if that's the case, the Bible is not true.

The Bible is not accurate. Give you an example about

prophecy regarding this. When Moses came as the deliverer

to deliver the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage,

I got to Fast forward through the story.

Don't have time, but all of a sudden they come, and this is

after the parting of the Red Sea.

They'd walk on dry ground, and they're appreciative that God

was in their corner, that God had their back, that God sent a

deliverer. And that was Moses, who, by the

way, typified our deliverer, Jesus.

Moses brings them out and all of a sudden they're in the

wilderness. OK, what do the people do?

They forget, and they complain. At a great sermon last Sunday

from Wade about complaining, remember some of his points.

When you complain, you're not thinking about somebody else.

You're not thinking about God. You're thinking about you and

how many times do we do that? We have something good that

happens in our life. Maybe God blesses us or has

something good in our life, and then all of a sudden we forget.

It's kind of the old adage, what have you done for me lately?

That was the children of Israel. And you know what they murmured?

They said, wait a minute, we got no food.

We got no water. By the way, we're sick of this

bread. Terrible.

You know what God does? Numbers 21 God send serpents to

bite the people. When the serpents bit the

people, the snakes, what happened to the people?

They died. Hold that thought because

there's a picture there. When the serpents bit the

people, the people died. Now God got their attention.

So the people come to Moses and they say, Moses, pray to God

that God will take away the snakes.

Does God take away the snakes? No.

What God says is this. God does this.

He said, Moses, what you're going to do is this.

I'm not taking them away, but when they bite the people, this

is what they're going to do. You take a pole and you put

brazen serpents on a pole. That's what you're going to do.

And when the people are bit, they're going to look up and

when they do, they're going to be healed.

It was a look of faith, believing Numbers 21.

This is what Moses did. Moses made a bronze serpent and

put it on a pole. And so it was.

If a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze

serpent, he lived. Do you know what the snakes

represented? Sin.

When the snakes bit the people, death by sin as a prophetic

type. When the people, as an act of

faith, believing, would look up, they would be healed in that

beautiful. Because guess what?

We ain't talking about snakes and we ain't talking about Poles

and we ain't talking about Moses.

We're talking about Jesus. God doesn't take away the

consequence of sin until what we look to the one that was lifted

on a pole. The Bible says that's

significant because in John 3 and 14, and as Moses lifted up

the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be

lifted up. That's why they went to Pilate.

It was the law. That's true.

Yes, that's true. But they had to go to pilot.

Why? Because prophetically, Jesus had

to be lifted up and a Jewish form of execution was stoning so

much more. I could say we got to keep

moving to legally execute Jesus. Rome had to do it.

So that's why they went to pilot.

Notice what Jesus said. And if I am lifted up from the

earth, this is back in John 12/6 chapters before will draw all

peoples to myself. I've heard people say this.

What that means is practically in life, it means this.

If I lift up Jesus in my life, it will draw all people under

Jesus. And while that may be true, and

while that is a secondary example, that's not what the

Lord was talking about. What the Lord was talking about

is writing the scriptures, this signifying what death he would

die, the form of death that He would die.

So interestingly, this is great. The sole right of execution was

given to Rome. Do you know when?

In about 8030. I'm just going to pause there.

Who's in control? When did Jesus start his earthly

ministry on the earth? About 3 years before he was

crucified. And if you don't go by the

adjusted calendar where he was crucified in AD 30, which I

believe it was AD 33, don't have time to go into it.

If you go by the traditional calendar, that means that he

started his earthly ministry in AD 30, the time that Rome was

given the exclusive right of execution.

So for the three years, because he was crucified in AD 33, for

the three years that Jesus was on the face of the earth, it

didn't make any difference. The Jews can get all the mad

they wanted to. They can get their mad on all

they wanted to. They couldn't legally execute

Jesus. Why?

Because the Bible prophetically stated he had to be lifted up.

Man, that ain't an accident. Who's in control?

God's in control. OK, So what dominates this whole

scene? What dominates the whole scene

is the innocence of Jesus. Pilate begins by saying I don't

know what the accusation is. You know what he ends up saying

6 times? I find no fault in him.

Jesus was innocent. He doesn't want the blood of

Jesus of an innocent man on his hands.

Religious trial already happened.

It began at night as I mentioned in our introduction.

You know, that was the illegal. Remember we talked about that

last time it was illegal. Why was it illegal?

Because capital cases under old law and under Jewish law under

the Sanhedrin could not be discussed at night time.

It had to be discussed under light of day.

And remember, we remember last time we said, and the reason for

it is this. If somebody is going to be on

trial for their life, they didn't want to have a law where

you can very hurriedly go through it at night and decide

if they should be executed or not.

It had to be in the light of day when they would take their time

and hear all the evidence. So they broke the law.

You know what they did the next morning?

The next morning they came together with Caiaphas in the

Sanhedrin to try to make legal what last night was illegal.

OK, so it's now early in the morning, but they still got to

go to Pilot. Why did they wait till the next

morning? It was early in the morning.

They couldn't do it before then because the Roman court opened

at sunrise and it closed at sunset.

So it wasn't like, well, they got Pilot up out of bed and

Pilots got no, it was his job by way of a Roman court.

It was his job and it opened at sunrise and it closed at sunset.

So now they came to Pilot's Hall.

The old, the old King James says, or the new King James

calls it his praetorium. Now we go to Matthew or John

John 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18 and verse 28. Notice please.

Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium, and

it was early morning. But they themselves did not go

to the praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they

might eat the Passover. Now a Jewish man could not go

into the House of a Gentile under Jewish law, lest they be

defiled. And if they wanted to eat the

Passover, which was nigh when Jesus was going to be crucified,

they could not go into the House of a Gentile or they would be

ceremonially unclean. Notice the difference between

what happened under the old law and where we are under the law

of Christ. I like this so much better,

don't you? Acts chapter 10.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

When Peter takes the gospel to the first Gentile converts in

the household of Cornelius, he references going back to this,

this idea of the old law. Then he said to them, you know

how it is unlawful for a Jewish man to keep company with or go

to one of another nation? But Peter says everything's

changed. God has shown me that I should

not call any man common or unclean.

That's under the law of Christ. This is under the law of Moses.

This is under the law of Christ. There's nothing common or

unclean. EM Zur put it this way and

summing up what they were saying, the Jews imagined that

it would defile them ceremonially, and I'm going to

get to that word in just a minute.

Ceremonially, what did it mean to be ceremonially unclean?

The Jews imagined it would defile them ceremonially to come

in contact with such a place, which would be the House of a

Gentile, and that would render them unfit to partake of the

Passover feast that was about due.

The Law of Moses required the Jews to be ceremonially as well

as physically clean before they can participate in the feast.

OK, And that's why John said this in John Chapter 11 and

John 11 · chapter mention

verse 55. And the Passover of the Jews was

near. Many went from the country up to

Jerusalem before the Passover. What for?

To purify themselves. So it's very serious to be

purified and not be ceremonially unclean before the Passover.

So let's talk about being ceremonially clean and unclean

and what they had to do. Here we go.

For a Jew to be ceremonially clean means to be ritually pure,

free from defilement according to Jewish religious law, which

often involves performing a ritual washing called the

tebola, and in a mikvah, which was a ritual bath, to symbolize

the removal of impurity and allowing them to participate

fully in religious practices, particularly approaching the

temple or offering sacrifices, especially signifying a state of

spiritual readiness to worship God.

Saying all of that, that's the reason they didn't want to be

ceremonially unclean before the Passover.

Why Leviticus said this? Leviticus 22, six and seven.

The person who has touched any such thing shall be unclean

until evening and shall not eat the holy offerings unless he

washes his body with water. And when the sun goes down, he

shall be clean, and afterward he may eat the holy offerings

because it is his food. OK, saying all that, do you see

the unbelievable hypocrisy? Unbelievable hypocrisy.

They don't want to go into the House of a Gentile, so they be

defiled so they can eat the Passover.

All the while they're willing to execute and have crucified the

Messiah who's the fulfillment of the Passover, the ultimate

Passover lamb. Wow, unbelievable hypocrisy.

It's a classic example of straining out a gnat and

swallowing a camel like Jesus dealt with before.

Keep the Passover and kill the one who came to fulfill it.

OK, verse 29. Pilate then went out to them and

said, what accusation do you bring against this man?

You know one thing about Pilate? Pilate knows Jesus is innocent.

OK? Pilate is not naive.

Pilate is has no problems when it comes to his own personal

intellect. That's not the problem.

The problem with Pilot. Please get this, because it's

going to be the same problem all the way through, even in the

next lesson. Pilot was a coward.

Pilot was a coward. I've said this so many times

that when the Jews were living, they were living under the

oppressive thumb of Rome. And that's true.

But look at the irony here while living under the oppressive

thumb of Rome. Guess what?

The Jews have Pilot under their thumb right now and he's a

coward. He doesn't want to lose his

position. Noticing in John 19 as we Fast

forward John 19 and 12. From then on, Pilot sought to

release him, but the Jews cried out saying if you let this man

go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king

speaks against Caesar. This is blackmail.

You want to keep your job? They're saying do the right

thing, crucify Jesus. If you want to do the right

thing, you know what the right thing would have been.

The right thing would have been to let him go because Jesus was

guilty of nothing, right? I thought about this when I was

putting this lesson together, and I want to share it with you.

Just food for thought. Have you ever been in a job and

you've been faced with an ethical dilemma and you've got a

choice to make? You got a choice.

Am I going to do the right thing or am I going to chicken out and

compromise because I want to keep my job?

Or maybe you're in business with someone and you have a business

transaction and the business transaction is a pretty good

deal, so you're tempted to compromise what you know is

right and ethical because you want your job or you want the

business. I thought about what a good

question for all of us to ask ourself.

We say we're going to do the right thing, we're going to do

the right thing, we're going to do the right thing.

My question is, is there a price you pay?

Is there a price I pay? Hope not.

Hope I wouldn't compromise. Hope I do the right thing.

Here it was When they came to Pilot.

Pilot sought to release him. They said if you let this man's

go, you're not Caesar's friend. We're going to tell on you,

Pilot, you're not doing good. Pilot going to tell on you.

You're not Caesar's friend. Oh, I'm going to lose my job.

Shaken takes courage to do that. Which is right.

So this is what Pilot says. He says, what accusation do you

bring against this man? And you know something about

this? This is the first fair aspect to

the Lord's trial. Finally, somebody is going to

ask the question, what do you got against him?

What's the accusation? What's he actually being accused

of? They don't want a trial though.

They want an execution Notice please.

Their response? They answered and said to him,

if we were not an evil doer or if he were not an evil doer, we

would not have delivered him up to you.

Did you get that? They don't answer the question.

What they say is this, oh by the way, if he wasn't a bad guy,

because we're wonderful citizens, we are wonderful

citizens, upstanding, respected men, upstanding men in the

community, upstanding men before God and all this, we are the

most religious people in the world.

Do you really think if he was not guilty of something or

really a bad guy, do you think we would have brought him to

you? That's how they answer the

question, OK, But in reality, you know what?

They don't answer the question. And I think there's really 2

reasons. There's no accusation.

That's number one, proving that Jesus was perfect.

They had nothing to say because Jesus was perfect.

But there's a secondary thing here.

The point is, there's nothing by way of a charge that they could

come up with that would hold any weight at all in a Roman court.

Nothing. What did they say about Jesus?

What did they have against him? We've already said that.

Oh, he blasphemed me. He's guilty of blasphemy.

He is said he's the Son of God. You know, Rome thought about

that. Who cares?

That's nothing to roam. So they don't answer.

Don't you see the hand of God working through all this?

They don't answer with an accusation.

First and foremost, because Jesus was perfect and he was

sinless and he had to be to be God's perfect sacrificial lamb

for the sins of the world. Everything Jesus did, everything

Jesus did, he was sinless in every way.

I'm going to tell you something. People get this mistaken and

it's not true that they are mistaken.

When Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan, some say while he

was perfect or sinless up until his baptism.

Then when John the Baptizer baptized Jesus, he baptized him

so he can remain sinless the rest of his life.

That is not true. He was baptized because the

Bible says to fulfill all righteousness.

Let's not go beyond the Bible to fulfill all righteousness.

Jesus said you must do this to fulfill all righteousness.

When he told John the Baptizer to baptize him, Jesus didn't

need that to stay perfect. Why?

Jesus is perfect in every way. He's the Son of God.

He is deity. So what do they do?

They got nothing to say. They take refuge in their own

character. Don't have a thing on Jesus.

Perfect in every way. In every way.

So not only does John show his perfection and it's made

evident, but also his deity. Notice Mark's account now about

his deity. Now they were on the road going

up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them, and they were

amazed and they followed and they were afraid.

Then he took the 12 aside and began to tell them the things

that would happen. How did Jesus know what would

happen? Because Jesus was God too.

He was all knowing in this too. Jesus knew everything that was

going to happen. Mark 10 is long before John

John 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18. What did Jesus say in the very

next verse? Here's the prophecy.

Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man

will be betrayed by the chief priest.

It happened and the scribes, it happened and they would condemn

him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles.

Jesus said a long time before it happened that that's exactly

what was going to happen. He would go to the Gentiles.

So in verse 31, then Pilate said to them, you take him and judge

him according to your law. Therefore the Jews said to him,

it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.

This is interesting to me. Pilate seems to be saying to

them, I'm giving you temporary authorization legally to try

Jesus and execute him yourself. They said, Oh no, no, no,

Pilate, it's not lawful for us to put anyone to death.

It's against the law. OK, why didn't they just scoop

up Jesus and take him and stone him to death?

Can't you see this is the hand of God?

Because if it was up to humans, notice they said it's not

lawful. Pilate gave them legal right to

do it. He gave them authorization to do

it. They said no, it's not lawful.

We can't put anyone legally to death.

Why didn't they scoop up Jesus? Because of the next verse that

they're saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke

signifying by what death he would die.

Amazing. Is Pilot in control?

No. Are the Jews in control?

No. Is God in control?

Yes. I'm telling you, when you think

about what God did for the sins of man and what Jesus did for

the sins of man, and you realize he was no man's victim.

He's the ultimate victor and he was totally in control.

Doesn't it give you at least a semblance of a greater

appreciation for Jesus than that?

I don't know about you, but it makes me really want to serve

Him even more. You know why?

Because he wasn't a victim. They thought he was.

God was totally in control and so was Jesus.

Remember what Jesus already said back in John 12 and 32.

And if and I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all

peoples unto myself. In other words, the kind of

death had to be lifted up or the death on the cross.

God is totally in control. But also John exalts Jesus in

another way too, not just in perfection and not just in

deity, but also as the supernatural king.

Jesus is the supernatural king. Pilate says, what are you going

to accuse him of? The Jews finally came up with

one and by the way, they thought, man, we really got him.

We finally got him. This is going to stick.

Luke 23 and verse 2. They began to accuse him, saying

we found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to pay

taxes to Caesar. That's a lie, saying that he

himself is Christ, a king. What their accusation is that

they thought would stick was this.

They're trying to make Jesus look like an earthly or

political revolutionary that's going to come in and lead a

rebellion, a revolution, and then crown himself as king.

Notice this phrase here. How much this is a lie here,

forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar.

Do you remember Jesus makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem

on the back of a colt of a donkey on Sunday.

On Monday, he cleanses the temple.

In the last week of his life. He also, you remember, curses

the fig tree. Remember what happened on

Tuesday, the day of controversy or questions, And they come to

question Jesus and they come and they thought they really got

him. And they says, tell us, is it

lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? Jesus says, go get me a

denarius, go get me a Roman coin.

Somebody had to go and get one. I don't know how long it took.

You can imagine Jesus standing there and they're waiting to see

what Jesus is going to do. And finally they bring the coin

to Jesus and Jesus turns it back on him.

He says this, whose image is on that coin?

And they said, well, Caesar and Jesus says, render unto Caesar

that which is Caesar or Caesar's, and render unto God

that which is God's. We do the same thing.

We pay our taxes. We render unto Caesar that which

is Caesar's. But you know what?

It doesn't infringe on our service to God.

You can give up your taxes to Caesar, and you can also give to

God not only financially, but of yourself in every way.

You can give to other people. You can do all that and still

fulfill your obligation to government or Caesar or obey the

laws of the land that we currently live under today.

This is a lie. This is a farce.

They said, oh, he's perverting the nation.

He forbid to pay taxes. Caesar saying himself is Christ

as a king. OK, what's interesting to me,

and here's the hypocrisy of it all, they hated Jesus more than

they hated Caesar, and they couldn't stand Caesar.

And now they're going to use Caesar as a reason to crucify

Jesus because they hate him more.

Then Pilate enters the pretorium again, called Jesus and said to

him, are you the king of the Jews?

And by the way, in our English translations, it looks like just

a simple question. For example, if I said to Terry,

are you so and so and so and so? That's not what he was asking.

In the Greek it says this, this way.

In the Greek it says you are you the king of the Jews?

In other words, you got to be kidding me.

You a king, You don't look like a king.

You're meek, you're humble, your hands are bound, you're wearing

the clothes of a peasant. You don't have an entourage.

You're all by yourself. Remember what the Bible says

about the disciples. Not only did Peter deny Jesus

from our last lesson, but the Bible says also they all forsake

forsook him and they all fled. No entourage.

Here's Jesus humble attire and he says you, are you kidding me?

Are you a king? Are you the really the king of

the Jews? You only got a king to me.

Jesus has a dilemma if he says yes, I am a king.

The only thing that Pilate knows about is an earthly king.

So if Jesus says yes, I'm a king, then Pilate would say what

they're accusing him is right. And Pilate would say he is going

to be a political revolutionary. He's going to try to overthrow

Rome and then be asserted as king.

And that would be bad. That would prove their point.

If he says no, I'm not a king, he would be denying his own

kingship. And the Bible says that he is a

king. He's King of kings and Lord of

Lords. So what is he going to do?

Here's Jesus again, brilliant Jesus qualifying the question in

the next verse. Jesus answered him.

Are you Speaking of yourself about this or did others tell

you this concerning me? Then Pilate answered, am IA 2

your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to

me. And then he says, what have you

done? Remember, this is an illegal

question. You're not allowed to ask

somebody that because under the law a man could not be condemned

by the word of his own testimony.

By law. Pilate's scrambling.

He knows Jesus is innocent. He said, are you a king?

He says, who told you I was a king?

Where'd you get that information?

Pilate says, am IA Jew, your own nation and chief priest

delivered you to me. Then he says, what have you

done? This was kind of like, I guess a

Fifth Amendment deal. Couldn't incriminate yourself,

right? Oh, the Lord's brilliant.

So what Jesus does is this. He doesn't answer the question

at all. He just speaks about His Kingdom

and he says this. My Kingdom is not of this world.

If my Kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight

so that I should not be delivered to the Jews.

But now my Kingdom is not from here.

Remember in John 18 and 37, Pilate responds.

He said to him, Are you then a king?

Jesus said, You rightly say that I am a king for this 'cause I

was born and for this cause I've come into the world that I

should bear witness of the truth.

Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.

OK, we got to methodically go through this here.

Jesus is the great proclaimer of truth.

To know Jesus, then, is to know the truth.

So I say this respectfully, and we'll talk about what it means

to know Jesus, because it really matters.

But if you don't know the truth, you don't know Jesus.

The word no means to have a relationship with.

If you don't intellectually know the truth, you don't have a

relationship with the with Jesus.

You know why? Because Jesus is linked to

truth. One man put it this way.

Jesus is King and his scepter, meaning his rod or his staff,

His rod or staff of authority and royalty is truth.

That's the king that he is. You know what Pilate, how Pilate

answers. It's amazing how Pilate answers

this. Pilate said to him, well, what's

truth? You know, he wasn't really

trying to ask Jesus to preach a sermon and tell him about what's

true or not. What he's saying is there's no

such thing as truth. Doesn't that sound familiar?

Pilate responds by saying what's truth?

What's that? In other words, it doesn't

really exist. Do you know anybody that's ever

said that? I don't understand something and

I'm going to be very polite and respectful, please.

In our life, we have standards of truth in every aspect of our

life. In school, there is a standard

of truth and there are facts that we're quizzed on and, and

tests on and all that. And if you answer the question

wrong, you get it wrong. You answer enough wrong, you get

an F, OK, Because why? We all recognize that

academically there's a standard of truth.

So we got to answer the question right based on the information

of the standard, right? I remember when I took the

contractor exam. You too and took the contractor

exam. Remember there's a test.

I remember the guys that didn't study and they flunked it.

If you study the information, it's pretty easy.

Trade and law. If you studied it, you know why.

There was a standard of fact which is true and everybody gets

it in every walk of life until it comes to religion.

And then people want to say there really isn't a standard of

truth. What's true for you is OK for

you, and what's true for me is OK for me.

And there's no standard and there's no room for

authoritative doctrine from the Scriptures is just what you

think is true is no good for you, and what I think is true is

good for me. And I don't understand that

because you know what? Religiously we're talking about

the greatest decision a person will ever make in their life.

There's nothing more important than your relationship with the

Lord. Jesus said I am truth.

Notice in the previous verse he said everyone who is of the

truth hears my voice. Wow here's my voice.

What is the word here? I hope this really drives home

what's it mean to hear Jesus. It means this from the Greek to

listen intently and obey. So everyone who is of the truth

listens intently and obeys my voice.

It's pretty heavy stuff. Jesus said it.

So in other words, to have a relationship with Jesus, you got

to hear him and you got to obey him and you can't do it on your

own way. You can't pave your own way.

When the Bible says work out your own salvation with fear and

trembling, it's misinterpreted among many to say this, I'm

going to do it my way. You do it your way.

And you know what, I knew a guy told my father this all the

time. I'm going to be on my path.

You go on your path and we'll see you guys to heaven first.

Used to make a joke with my dad. They were good friends.

Jesus says enter ye into the straight gate, for wide is the

gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction.

And many there be that go in there at For straight is the

gate, narrow is the way that leads to life.

And few there be that find it not few there be that not few

there be. Because it's hard to find.

That's not what that means. It means that few as opposed to

many are going to make the choices, to make the sacrifice,

to do what the Lord said and do what?

Listen intently to the Lord and obey what the Lord said.

And the standard is the word of God.

It's got to be, it's got to be. So after Jesus, after Pilate had

said this, he went out and you know, he said I find no fault in

him at all. And by the way, he says it 6

times so far, he's proven faultless.

In conclusion, there's no indictment at the beginning.

There's no conviction in the end.

The King of Truth is accused, he's maligned and he's hated,

but he's proven time and time again to be perfect and

faultless. But Pilot wasn't finished, and

that's going to be next. He has to make a decision, and

that decision is what then shall I do with Jesus?

Do you know you got to make that same choice, So do I Everybody

has to make the choice. Here's the evidence.

What am I going to do with Jesus?

We're going to talk about how Pilot has to make that choice

next. And finally he turns to them.

He says, shall I crucify your king knowing he's innocent?

You got a choice today too. What are you going to do about

Jesus? Jesus died for your sins.

He shed his blood. He rose again on the third day.

He is now sitting at the right hand of God.

He's reigning as our king. He's reigning as our king with

his scepter being truth. You got a relationship with

Jesus. I'm going to tell you what you

can today. This is how you do it, not based

on what you think or I think. By the way, don't ever listen to

me. If I can't give you book,

chapter and verse, If I can't show it to you in the Bible,

then you throw out anything I say.

But if I quote the Bible, please hear the Bible and listen to

what the Word says, OK. Jesus talked about hearing means

listen intently and believe. What did Jesus say in order to

go to heaven? What does the Bible say in order

to become a Christian? Here's the invitation that we

extend to everyone after we teach from the Word of God.

First thing you got to do, you got to hear the Word.

The word is the standard. It's the scepter of truth.

Romans 10/17. So faith comes by hearing, and

hearing by the word of God. After you hear the word of God,

which as we've already noticed, means listen intently and obey,

you got a choice. You got a choice, Jesus said.

You got to believe with all your heart.

Hebrews 11 and 6. Jesus said that in in Mark 1616,

but also Hebrews 11:00 and 6:00. You got to believe with all your

heart. Without faith, it's impossible

to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is

and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

You hear the word of God. You hear the standard of truth.

You got a choice to make. Am I going to believe it or not?

And by the way, belief means having the force to obey.

There's that word again. You got to believe with all your

heart what else? You got to repent of your sins.

All that means is, man, I've been going in that direction.

I'm not going to go in that direction anymore.

I'm a follower of Jesus. You know what Christian is?

A disciple of Jesus, a follower of Jesus, and a learner of

Jesus. When a person comes to the

conclusion, I want to follow Jesus, that's what you're doing.

I'm going to be his disciple and follow him.

I'm going to be a learner of Jesus.

I'm going to follow him and serve him.

That's what I'm going to do because he's my King.

Then you got to be willing to confess Jesus Christ as the Son

of God. Then Philip said, if you believe

with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I

believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

These are steps that point toward or lead to the point of

salvation. These things are unto salvation,

but this is what puts you into Christ.

Be baptized for the remission of your sins.

Mark 1616. He who believes that is baptized

will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Is it necessary? Do you have to be baptized to be

saved? According to the scriptures, you

do be baptized for the remission of sins first.

Peter 321. The like figure where to even

baptism does also now save us. Not the putting away the filth

of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God by

the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That's what it takes to become a Christian.

That's what it takes to be saved.

Baptism for the purpose of remission of your sins, beauty

of it. You're saved and Jesus adds you

to his body, his church, his Kingdom that he's reigning over.

Now, have you taken these steps perhaps, and you've drifted

away. Maybe there's something in your

life that you need to correct. You can do that.

There won't be that one of either class.

Come forward. Let your request be made known

while we stand and while we say.