What is Truth?

Then they took Jesus to Caiaphas to the governor's

headquarters. It was early morning. They did

not enter the headquarters themselves, otherwise

they would be defiled and unable to eat the Passover.

Then Pilate came out to them and said, What charge

do you bring against this man? And they answered

him, If this man weren't a criminal, we wouldn't

have handed him over to you. So Pilate told them,

Take him yourselves and judge him according to

your law. It's not legal for us to put anyone

to death, the Jews declared. They said this so

that Jesus' words might be fulfilled, signifying

what kind of death he was going to die. Then

Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned

Jesus, and said to him, Are you the king of the

Jews? Jesus answered. Are you asking this on

your own or have others told you about me? I

am not a Jew, am I? Pilate replied. Your own

nation and the chief priest handed you over to

me. What have you done? My kingdom is not of

this world, said Jesus. If my kingdom were of

this world, my servants would fight so that I

wouldn't be handed over to the Jews. As it is,

my kingdom does not have its origins here. You

are a king then, Pilate asked. You say that I

am a king, Jesus replied. I was born for this,

and I have come into the world for this, to testify

to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens

to my voice. What is truth, said Pilate. Let

us pray. God, we come to you this morning and

I pray that in these few minutes that your Holy

Spirit would be in this place, God. There is

not a good word that can come from my mouth,

dear Lord, if it does not come from you. There

is not a word that we will hear today, dear Lord,

if we do not open our ears and open our hearts

and allow your Holy Spirit to work in us. So

whatever sin or whatever worry or whatever stress

or whatever distractions that we have brought

into this place, I pray, God, that in this moment

that we would give those things to you. God,

I pray that you would keep us free from any attacks

of the enemy, dear Lord, that today your word

would speak to us, that today, dear Lord, Jesus

would be glorified. I pray that you would...

Hide me behind the cross, dear Lord, that I would

preach and teach in a way that brings glory to

you, that you take away any pride or fear that

I have, dear Lord, and that you just do a mighty

work in this place today. And so I pray that

in these few minutes, God, you would bless us.

And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Before this event took place, Jesus had spent

about three years of his life. ministering, going

all over, covering miles and miles, and really,

really pouring into his 12 apostles who were

with him everywhere he went. And he was teaching

them, and he was preaching to them, and he was

showing them, and he was helping them to understand

things that weren't always easy to understand.

And Jesus had done this because this was his

mission. This is what he was sent for. This is

what he was called to do. But Jesus also knew

that his mission was soon drawing to a close.

It wasn't long before this that Jesus had had

the final supper with his apostles, that he had

prepared them for what was about to take place,

that Jesus had left them with the most beautiful

example. of humility and love that I think we

see in Scripture apart from His death and resurrection.

And that was when He washed His disciples' feet

and He humbled Himself and He said, this is the

way that you live, that you humble yourself,

that you become... a servant of all and he he

left this last message with them and and soon

jesus would go into the garden of gethsemane

and he would begin to pray and he would begin

to seek god in the most difficult hour of his

life which is something that you and i need to

do Sometimes we fail to realize that. Sometimes

in the midst of our darkest times, we get so

caught up in the worries and the stresses of

what we can do that we forget that we serve a

God who is in control. And it's not our will,

but it's God's will. And Jesus went and he poured

his heart out to the Father. And he prayed that

if there was any way that God would deliver him,

that he could deliver him, that it would happen.

But it was not the will of God. And Jesus prayed

such, God, not my will be done, but your will

be done. It wasn't long after Jesus prayed this

prayer that he was arrested. And soon those who

were closest to him were all gone. They all deserted

him. You would think that the apostles would

be those who would be standing beside Jesus,

who would not be afraid of a single thing. They

had seen Jesus' miracles. They had heard his

word. They knew who he was. They believed who

he was. They trusted him and had faith in him

apart from Judas. And you would think that this

group of men, of all people, would have stood

by Jesus. But they all fled. In Jesus' deepest,

darkest hour, they all fled. And Jesus was left

alone to face a mock trial. It was a mock trial.

There was no question as to what the verdict

would be. It had been decided years in advance.

It had been decided that Jesus was a problem

for the religious people. He was a problem for

the chief priest. He was a problem for the Sanhedrin

and the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He was a

problem because he came and began to preach a

gospel and a message that differed from what

they believed and what they wanted to believe.

They had the word of God. They knew the word

of God, but they really didn't know the word

of God. And Jesus had come and he had begun to

preach to them and to teach to them. to try to

help them to understand what the word of God

meant. And for three years, they had completely

and totally missed it. After all the miracles

and after all of the teachings, many of God's

very own people were those who had chosen to

put Jesus to death. After he stood his trial,

he was mocked and beaten, and he was taken to

Pilate. And we see that in our... story that

we have read today in these verses. Pilate was

a Roman governor at the time and the Romans didn't

care too much about the Jewish way of life. It

wasn't a real big issue. They knew that the Jewish

people had their ways but it wasn't a big issue.

The Romans just kind of let the Jews do their

thing and as long as they all kind of pledged

allegiance to Caesar there wasn't going to be

any problem. And the Jews didn't want to kill

Jesus themselves, and so they took him to Pilate.

And here we see in the Scriptures Jesus' interaction

with Pilate. Pilate really doesn't care one way

or the other about Jesus. It's of no concern

to him. He tries on multiple occasions to get

the Jewish people to drop the charges, so to

speak. Let this man go. He's done nothing wrong.

But the Jewish people are very persistent. that

there is only one outcome that is suitable for

Jesus, and that is for Jesus to die. So here

we see Pilate and Jesus talking with one another.

And Pilate asked Jesus, Are you the king? Are

you a king? Jesus says, You say that I am. And

as Jesus continues on, he says something that

I think is interesting. He says, I was... born

for this. I was born for this. Jesus knew exactly

what his mission was. This did not come as a

surprise to Jesus. Jesus says, I am here before

you, Pilate, not because of your authority, not

because of the Jewish people's authority, but

I am here before you under God's authority. I

am only here because this is the will of my Father.

I was born for this. I am here because this is

my mission. This is what I was called to. This

is what my Father has prepared me for. And this

is what I come for, is to do the will of the

Father. This is what I was born for. I was born...

To tell the truth. I was born to speak the truth.

I was born to teach the truth. And Pilate asked

him a really good question. Pilate says, what

is truth? That's a good question for us to answer

today. We seem to have trouble in our society

of figuring out what truth is. Our society doesn't

really understand what truth is. In our society,

truth is whatever you want it to be. There's

this phrase, you've probably heard it before,

my truth. You ever heard that before? You ever

said that before? Well, that's your truth. Sometimes

we'll say something to somebody and they'll say,

well, that's your truth and this is my truth.

Well, that's not the way that truth works. Truth

is truth. Now, we don't always like it. We may

not agree with it. But there is a truth. There

are things in this world that are true whether

we choose to believe them or not, whether we

agree with them or not. They are true. And Pilate

says, what is truth? And I'll tell you today

the answer to that question. And the answer to

that question is Jesus. Jesus says, I am the

way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is truth

today. It is God's word that is truth today.

Don't get caught up in the lies of the world.

Because the world will tell you a lot of lies.

They will feed them to you as if they are truth,

and they are not. Our world... has compromised

things that God has said, these things are sinful,

these things are bad, and this is truth. But

our world says, we want to do these things. We

want to live in these sins. And so therefore,

we begin to get lax and we begin to give in a

little more and a little more and a little more

into sin as individuals and as a world. And look

at where this gets us. It always gets us into

the same predicament. Every time we cave and

we begin to live and believe a lie and we sacrifice

the truth, it affects us. It hurts us. It breaks

us. And we fall into this trap. We fall into

this trap of saying, man, it's 2025. Man, things

have changed. Man, God's word says this, but...

Surely he didn't really mean this, or surely

he didn't really mean that. And we begin to see

the way the world lives, and we begin to see

that the world lives in a lie, and we begin to

accept that lie as truth, and we begin to live

a lie. And we begin to replace the truth with

a lie, and it leaves us broken, and it leaves

us empty, and it leaves us just completely drained.

And we don't know why that is. It's because we've

traded in the truth for a lie. God does not change.

We've changed a lot as a people. We've changed

a lot as a world, but I can guarantee you this,

God has not changed. And what God says is good

is good, and what God says is sin is sin. But

it's 2025, man. I don't care what year it is.

God's word hadn't changed. Divorce is still wrong.

God still expects a man to stay married to his

wife and a wife to stay married to her husband.

God still expects children to honor their parents.

God still expects parents to love their children.

God still expects us not to lie, cheat, and steal.

God still expects us not to gossip. God still

expects us not to do a whole host of things that

we have considered and thought to ourselves that

they are acceptable because everybody else is

doing it. And some of you grew up in the church,

and we find ourselves living in sin, and we try

to justify it, and all the while we know we are

living in sin. And it's time for us to wake up

in our life possibly and stop living a lie and

stop believing a lie and say, God, I hadn't been

listening to your word. I know it and I need

to accept that it's truth and I need to live

on that truth. Truth is Jesus Christ. There's

a lot of things that people will tell you in

this world that are lies that are not true. But

I can tell you one thing today that is true,

has been true, and will always be true, and that

is Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And He came

into this world to die on a cross so that your

sins could be forgiven, not so that we could

continue to live in them. And Jesus says, I'm

ready for my mission. He says, I was born for

this. I was born for this, Pilate. I was born

to bring truth into the world. I was born to

bring a light into the darkness. I am ready to

do what my Father has called me to do. And praise

God for us that He was. Because we have a big

problem. And we are big sinners. Every one of

us in this room, we sin and we sin greatly. Often,

maybe every day, maybe multiple times a day.

And Jesus said, even though you're a sinner,

he said, I will pay the price for your sin. You

may say, well, why did Jesus even have to do

that? Because the wages of sin is death. That's

the punishment for our sin. You read through

the scripture, you read through the Old Testament,

the punishment for sin is death. The only way

death can be covered is with life. That's why

in the Old Testament the sacrifices had to take

place. That's why the animals were killed. The

scripture says the life of the creature is in

its blood. And therefore, when we sin, our sins

are deserving of death, and therefore they need

to be covered in life. And so in the Old Testament,

God said you can sacrifice animals and sprinkle

that blood, and that blood can bring life to

you and atone for your sins, but only momentarily.

Because the people would continually sin again.

And so it's already written, it's already established

that God is a just God, deal with sin. It must

be dealt with. He cannot sweep it under the rug.

That's not the way justice works. Justice works

by a crime being dealt with, by the proper punishment

being given for the crime that was committed.

God cannot just pretend like sin does not exist.

It does exist. He cannot sweep it under a rug.

He has to deal with it. Death has to occur. There

has to be punishment for our sinfulness. Now

God had two options. Option one, he could just

let us all die. He could kill us. He could say,

done. You're on trial. Did you sin? Yes. You're

guilty. What's the punishment? Death. Next. Adam

and Eve came into the world. God took them to

the Garden of Eden, told them what not to do.

They didn't listen to him. Sin entered the world.

The effects of sin began to reign. Death began

to reign. Here is the problem. That was option

number one. God could have just let death reign.

God could have just let us live in our sin and

die in our sin. Or option number two. God could

atone for our sin. Because there's no way that

you can atone for it. Now you may be trying to,

but you can't. You may have come to church today

thinking you're going to atone for your sin.

You're not. God sees through that. God sees through

all of them. They didn't go to church every Easter,

so therefore that's good enough. That's not the

way God works. He's not going to look at your

life history when you get to heaven and say,

well, they went every Christmas and every Easter,

so at least they made an effort. That's not the

way God works. We cannot atone for our own sins.

You cannot do enough good works. You cannot go

to church enough. You cannot put enough money

in the offering plates. You cannot do that. You

cannot buy God's forgiveness. So God had to come

up with a solution. If we're going to have our

sins atoned for, if he's not just going to let

us die and rot in hell, then God had to come

up with a solution, and the solution was Jesus

Christ. The solution was that he would send his

only son. He would send his only son to live

a perfect and sinless life. You know why Pilate

couldn't find anything that Jesus was guilty

of? Because Jesus wasn't guilty of anything.

And when he asked the Jews why they brought Jesus,

what did he do? They said, well, he must have

done something or we wouldn't have brought him

to you. Now, what kind of response is that? They

didn't even have a reason why. Just take our

word for it. We brought him to you. He must be

guilty. We wouldn't bring an innocent man. And

Pilate questions him and he says, look, this

is an innocent man. Praise God for us, he was.

He was perfect and sinless in every way. Because

you and I were not. So he had to be. And when

Jesus was taken from Pilate, he was beaten, he

was mocked, and he was nailed to a cross. And

you need to think about that sometime if you

hadn't thought about it. And you need to really

think about that. We may hear it so much it just

goes in one ear and out the other. Oh, Jesus

was nailed to a cross. You think for just a moment

how excruciating that whole process was. That

he was ridiculed. That a crown of thorn was shoved

onto his head. That he was beaten mercifully.

Mercifully. He was forced to carry his own cross

as far as he could. And then he was nailed to

it. And why in the world would somebody do such

a thing? Why in the world would somebody suffer

in such a way? He did it because he loves you.

He did it. He knows your sin. He knows what you

were guilty of. He knew what you were going to

do. And Jesus took all of that because he loves

you. And that day, Jesus became the sacrifice.

Far greater than the sacrifices of the past.

Yeah, they sacrificed those animals in the past,

but God's Word says that the blood of goats and

bulls would never be sufficient to cover the

sins of humanity. Only the precious blood of

Jesus Christ. A sacrifice had to be given. Death

had to occur. The punishment for sin had to be

carried out. And God could either allow us to

carry the burden of that consequence or he could

carry it for us. And he did just that. Jesus

died on a cross because he loves you. Jesus died

on a cross because there is no way that your

sins can be forgiven today apart from him. There

is no more important truth. than you will ever

hear in your life, than that of Jesus Christ.

That He is the Son of God, crucified, and most

importantly, resurrected. That through Jesus

Christ, we can gain victory over our sin, and

victory over death today, because Jesus was victorious

over sin. And Jesus was victorious over death.

And that is the truth. And you might not believe

it. I can't make you believe it. Maybe you've

heard it a million times before you came in here

today. It's the truth. It's still the truth.

And the question is, are you going to believe

that truth today? Are you going to really give

your... to Jesus Christ? Are you going to live

for him? Are you going to put your faith and

trust in him? I'm not talking about just coming

to church. It's easy just to come to church.

It's a lot harder to live for Jesus. It's hard

to live by the word of God. It calls us to things

that we don't want to do. It calls us to things

that wage war against our flesh and our desires

in this world. It is hard to follow Jesus. It

is hard to love our enemies and pray for those

who persecute us. It is hard to do the right

thing sometimes. It's hard to love our neighbor

as ourselves sometimes. It's hard. Going to church

is easy. But living for Jesus is not, and that's

what he calls us to. He calls us to live for

him. He calls us to put our faith and trust in

him. The question is, will you follow Jesus today?

When Jesus was nailed on the cross, there were

two criminals beside him. One on either side.

In the gospel accounts, we see that both of those

men who were crucified beside him were mocking

him. Somewhere along the way, something changed

though. One of the men changed their heart. In

Luke chapter 23, you can go and read that story.

Luke 23 · chapter mention

I'll read you a portion of it this morning. If

you want to turn there, you can. Luke chapter

Luke 23:39

23, verse 39. Luke chapter 23, verse 39. It says,

Luke 23:39

Then one of the criminals hanging there began

to yell insults at him. Aren't you the Messiah?

Save yourself and us. Now, let's pay attention

to these two criminals here and their response.

In the other accounts, we see that they mock

Jesus, and we don't really have any detail. But

here, as the hours are winding down on their

lives, we see some information about these two.

Now, while Jesus is hanging on the cross, he's

been mocked this whole time. He has been mocked

by those who are there with him, in front of

him, and they are saying things like, if you

really are the Son of God, come down from that

cross. If you are so good, if you're the Messiah,

then show us your power. And listen to what this

criminal hanging beside him says. He says, aren't

you the Messiah? Well, that's a pretty good response.

Maybe he does believe that Jesus is Messiah.

But I think not. Aren't you the Messiah? Save

yourself and us. Now this criminal doesn't seem

to care about Jesus really at all. Other than

the fact that if you have the power, could you

just save me? Hey, why don't you just get me

off of this cross? Whoever you are, if you are

the Messiah, why don't you just do this thing

that they're mocking you about? Why don't you

come down from this cross and why don't you just

get me off the cross too? Now as we continue

to read this text, it seems pretty clear that

this criminal's heart was not in the right place.

What this criminal wanted was not a Messiah that

he could serve, but a Messiah who would serve

him. He didn't care about Jesus being the Messiah.

He cared about getting off the cross. And if

Jesus could get him off the cross, then so be

it. Listen to what happens as the scripture continues

in verse 40. But the other criminal answered,

rebuking him. Don't you even fear God since you

are undergoing the same punishment? Now the other

criminal knew what was going on here. He rebuked

this first criminal. He said, hey, why are you

saying these things? Why do you have this heart?

You need to recognize what has taken place. Don't

you fear God? If this man really is the Messiah,

shouldn't you be acting a little differently

toward him? Shouldn't you be treating him with

some reverence here? And the other criminal rebuked

him. And listen to what he says in verse 41.

We are punished justly because we are getting

back what we deserve for the things we did. You

know what that criminal did right there? He just

confessed his sins. Right there on the cross,

he just confessed his sins. He knew two things.

That Jesus was the Messiah, and he knew that

he was a sinner. And he said, look, to the other

criminal. He said, you are mocking Jesus just

like these other folks. He says, you need to

fear God because, look, we should be here. We

don't have anything to complain about. We deserve

to die. We have committed horrible crimes. We

have sinned in horrible ways and done horrible

things. We deserve to be here. And there in that

moment, in the last moments of this criminal's

life, he confessed his sins. He knew that he

was a sinner. And listen to what he says going

forward. But this man has done nothing wrong.

Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come

into your kingdom. Isn't that a beautiful story?

Two criminals both mocking Jesus at some point

in time. One of them has a change of heart. One

of them just wants a Jesus who will do what he

says. I don't really want to follow you, Jesus.

I don't really care about you, Jesus. I don't

know if you're the Messiah. I don't care if you're

the Messiah. But would you just do something

for me? And isn't that the kind of Jesus that

some people want today? I don't really care that

much about Jesus. Yeah, maybe he's the Messiah.

Maybe not. I don't know. But would you bless

me anyway? Would you just do good to me? I don't

want to do anything for you, Jesus. I don't want

to sacrifice any of my time to serve you. I don't

want to sacrifice any of my money to serve you.

I don't want to go to church to praise you. I

don't want to help other people. I don't want

to pray for my enemies. I don't want to do any

of that. But Jesus, could you just do stuff for

me? And that's the heart of many people in our

world today, and maybe some in this room. We

want to serve a Jesus that just serves us and

does for us. But that's not what Scripture calls

us to. And if that's what our heart is, then

we don't know Jesus. Because when you know Jesus,

you want to serve Jesus. When you know Jesus,

you're like the other criminal. When you know

Jesus, you fear God. When you know Jesus, you

say, look, Jesus, I have sinned greatly. You

have done nothing wrong. You are the Son of God.

You are the Messiah. Would you remember me? Would

you allow me into your kingdom, Jesus? That's

the heart that God wants us to have. It's a heart

that seeks the man who has died on a cross for

us. And there is hope for us today. Not if we're

like the first criminal. Not if we're simply

seeking a Jesus who will do what we want. Jesus

is not a genie in a lamp. Jesus is the Son of

God. He did not exist to grant our every wish.

He came for one purpose. He knew what that purpose

was, and he told Pilate, I was born for this.

He was born to die, and he did so willingly so

that you and I could be like that second criminal

and say, Jesus, I've sinned, but can I be in

your kingdom? And listen to what Jesus says to

him in verse 43. And he said to him, I assure

you today you will be with me in paradise. It's

never too late. It's never too late. That criminal

didn't have many breaths left in his lungs, but

he had enough breaths to call out to Jesus, what

about you today? What about you today? Maybe

the Holy Spirit's been convicting you today.

Maybe He's been convicting you for a few weeks

or a few months or a couple of years. Maybe today

you realize there's some sin in your life and

you've been okay with it. You've been living

the lie and you've been believing it and you've

been sacrificing the truth for a lie. But I want

to tell you today that Jesus Christ is the truth

and in Him there is forgiveness of sins. If we

would just call out to Him today. If we would

just confess our sins and ask Jesus to forgive

our sins, he'll do so. And he can do so. And

he alone can do so. Because he died on a cross.

And Jesus says to that criminal, you'll be with

me in paradise. You'll be in my kingdom. And

so it is for us today. That if we would trust

in Jesus Christ today, that we would enter the

kingdom of God. It was a dark day that day that

Jesus was nailed to a cross. But it was a beautiful

day three days later when Jesus rose from the

grave. And that's why we're here today. That's

why every year at this time we come and we remember

this event. That's why every Sunday we come.

Year after year of our life we come. And we sit

on these pews day after day. We read the same

words that we have read time and again in God's

Word because there is no strength, there is no

guidance, there is no help in anything else other

than Jesus Christ. And so we come today and we

rejoice in who Jesus is and in what He's done.

If you don't know Him today, I pray that you

would. If there's sin in your life today, I pray

that you would confess it. I pray that you'd

trust in Jesus Christ before you leave. Let's

pray. God, we come to you. We thank you for your

word. We thank you for who Jesus is. We thank

you that, God, he was so willing to be faithful

to you, that he was willing to serve you and

to humble himself all the way to death, death

on a cross, dear Lord. And I pray today that

we recognize the significance and the power and

the importance of that. God, maybe there are

some in here today and they do not know who Jesus

is. They know about him, but maybe they've never

confessed their sins. Maybe they've never repented.

Maybe they've never trusted him and put their

faith in him. God, that's what you call us to.

We are saved by faith, dear Lord. We're not saved

by coming to church on Easter or any other day.

But we are saved by faith. If we would just confess

our sins, dear Lord, it's not too late. God,

maybe there are some in here today and they wonder

if you love them. I pray today that they would

know that you do. If they question it, let them

just look to the cross and what Jesus has done

for them. God, maybe there are some that come

here today and they are seeking truth. I pray

today that they know that there is no truth except

for your word, dear Lord. There's no truth greater

than Jesus Christ. If we need to find truth,

dear Lord, let us look no further than the cross

and the pages of Scripture. God, maybe there

are some here today and they're yours, but dear

Lord, we get off track sometimes and we begin

to believe the things that the world says are

okay. We begin to justify them and we begin to

accept a lot of lies. Dear Lord, I pray today

that we would stop that. If there's some of these

things going on, that we just would give those

things to you, that we would repent of those

things, God, and that we would just seek your

word and seek to live by your word and seek to

live by your will and seek to live by your truth.

So God, I pray that as we have this song of invitation,

if there is one here today that does not know

Jesus Christ, that maybe even in this moment,

God, they have confessed their sins and they

know their need for a Savior. I pray, God, that

if any has made that decision today, that as

we sing, they would come forward. And let us

know that, that we can rejoice with them. God,

maybe there are some that just need to go before

you now and pour their heart out. Maybe they

need help. Maybe they need to repent. Whatever

it is, God, I pray that they would take this

time to respond to you. God, if anybody needs

prayer, I pray that they'd come forward, dear

Lord. I'll be glad to pray for them. But I pray

right now that everybody that's here will know

the truth of the love of Jesus Christ. And I

ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.