The Scaredy-Cat and the Spear

The title of the message today is the scaredy Cat and the Spear. Now,

after the Jews condemned Jesus for being the son of God, they send

him straightway to the Roman procurator Pilot to finish him off. That's a strange

thing for religious people to do, to try and finish people off. Luke

and his gospel account is very careful record the facts, so we will not

fail to understand that the whole world crucified Jesus. It was the entire assembly

that went to put him to death. And in the word whole, we

are included. We put Jesus on the cross, Luke twenty three, verse

one. Then the whole company of them rose and brought him before Pilot,

and they began to accuse him, saying, we found this man perverting our

nation forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is

Christ the King. That's his crime, Christ the King evil is a kingdom.

And that is why the whole company rose as one to drag Jesus off

to Pilot. Pilot's name in Latin means spear. How many of you knew

that the spirit becomes Pilatos or I'm not a Latin speaker, but I looked

it up. It means the spear. It's no coincidence that Pilot was named

the spear. Pilot is famous for all time as the man who condemned Jesus

to death. A Roman spear pierced Jesus' side because Pilot gave the order to

crucify Jesus. Thus he has named the spear the first murder in the Bible?

What was his name? Quizzing you Cain. Cain's name in Hebrew can

be kannah, which means to create, possess or acchoir, But the noun

king, which is derived from it, is the word for spear in the

Bible. Cain comes from the noun for spear. Potentially, the first murder

was named the spear. The man named spear rose up and killed his brother

i Abel Abel means vanity and meaninglessness. Abel was a type of Christ,

and Cain was a type of Pilot and anyone else who hates his brother.

Now, it's amazing Cain hated his brother, but Pilot was indifferent to his

brother's need. It doesn't matter. It's the same idea. It brings people's

lives to an end, they accused Jesus the mob does that day, the

whole assembly of the religious leaders. They accused him number one of corruption,

perverting the nation to bring down the national spirit and morals like what Hollywood does

today. Number two confiscation forbidding payment of taxes to Caesar, which is an

IRS crime. Today you want to get in trouble, just don't pay your

taxes. Number three insurrection making himself king instead of Caesar, which is a

political revolution. All three accusations were purelyzed. Christ wasn't doing any of that,

and yet they made up stuff to bring him down. It took lies

to condemn Jesus, and so they lied to manipulate the political powers to kill

him. That is the spirit of false religion. That's how Satan will move

on religious people and secular people at the time of the end. How many

of you people know that we are nearing the mark of the beast issue in

this country based on Revelation thirteen, And how many of you recognize that very

few pulpits across the land are addressing the reality that we have a rendezvous with

prophetic time, that we are headed toward a test that will come upon the

whole world to try them, and Satan will use lives against the remnant Church

to enforce the mark of the Beast and to kill those who keep the commandments

of God and have the faith of Jesus based in Revelation twelve and thirteen.

And if that's not in your biblical vision or scope, then you need to

get into the Bible and study the prophecies. We are headed toward that event.

Christ's crime for the Jewish people was the fact that he was the son

of God. The Church's crime at the end will be the fact that they

keep the commandments of God, and in relation fourteen one, they follow the

Lamb. They have the Lamb's name, the Lamb's wall written on their foreheads.

Pilot asked Jesus outright, are you the king of the Jews? And

Jesus answered him directly, back, you say. When Jesus was challenged by

the Jews to confess that he is the son of God, Jesus told them

plainly, you say, But he added that I am. That's what he

told them when Herod was trying him. Jesus is the great I Am and

his religious crime was being himself the healer, the teacher God. In human

flesh, the savior of the world, the I Am. But the Pilot

Jesus only said, you say the name. The man named the spear would

not have appreciated what it means to be the great I Am God of the

bird bush because he had no context. Pilot's god was Caesar, and you

know, the gods of Rome that supported the whole political system. Power and

nothing else guided him. At the point of his spear, he was able

to marshal his influence and lead the region of Judea. And verse four,

Pilots said, I find no case against this man. Now, the rebellious

leaders had dragged Jesus before Pilot because Jesus confirmed that he is the son of

God. They had tried him in the religious tribunal for claiming to be who

he was. Incidentally, Pilot dismissed his case as irrelevant because anybody can claim

to be a god in Rome can care less. They rattled back at Pilot

that this Jesus stirred up the whole region of Judea from Galilee to Jerusalem.

Now that caught Pilot's ear, but he realized they were just making stuff up.

Pilot was famous for putting down insurrection with the spear and the sword,

and they thought it would work here. It still didn't work for Pilot.

Pilot was not easily convinced to crucify Jesus. Pilot saw a political opportunity,

though, to pass the buck instead of letting Jesus go free, as justice

demands for every good man to do. That's why do to do that?

Because Pilot was a politician, not just a procurator with the power of the

sword. Pilot asked them if Jesus was a Galilean, and they evidently affirmed

that he was. Because Pilot sent Jesus straight to Herod, he says,

once he figured that out, he says, look, I'm want to send

you to Herod. Take him to King Herod. He wanted nothing to do

with that innocent man. He was guilty of just being a good man that

day of Passover with a few marbles loose in his head. Let's somebody else

condemn this good man. He's a little off Jesus, so send him away

to King Herod. Luke indicates that Herod was in Jerusalem at that time time

and Haro was glad to see him come into the courts. Har was aware

that John the Baptist had pointed people to Jesus. He had followed the ministry

of John the Baptist, and he thought that maybe Jesus could give him something

that he was seeking. Then. But you know, he had cut off

John the Baptist's head. Why because he was afraid of the oath of his

evil wife that had tricked him. That he that he'd been tricked into.

And by parading his Solome his his her daughter had danced scantily before him.

He had, he had, he had, He'd said, I'll do whatever

he ask and and he did. And she asked for the head of John

the Baptist. He never forgave himself for that, really, he'd said,

you know, as I listened, as I think of that story, friend,

don't tell me that dancing in the bars are essentially dancing at a party

or a wedding, have any virtue to them. Solomi danced before the king

and with it his reserves went down, and John the Baptist was killed.

Think about it. Satan used dancing of this kind to kill John the Baptist,

who was more than a prophet Luke twenty three to eight. When Herod

saw Jesus, he was very glad for he had long desire to see him

because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign

done by him. Why do a lot of people go to church today?

They go to church to see miracles performed in church. Faith healers bring people

up. Now today, we just simply prayed for healing, didn't we.

We called on Jesus to heal, and that is a thing of faith.

But signs are when you have to do it, and so very often think

it was a good deal at the time. Most of the time faith healers

fake faith healers will parade themselves before the masses, will invent miracles and the

like, and people be worked up. He wanted to see if Jesus would

do a real sign. That's interesting. Herod's name comes from a word that

means to tremble, to be a coward, or to flee. Imagine naming

your king king coward. But maybe in more precise modern terms we can just

call him scaredy cat. The spear sent Jesus to the king who was named

scaredy cat. Pilot's name Spear suggests the idea of aggression. Herod is just

the opposite of the spear. His name conveys the motion of fear, aggression,

and fear was toying around with Jesus that night as he was dragged before

the scaredy cat and the spear. Christ is between the two polls of human

emotion, fear and aggression. Herod knew that Jesus was a miracle worker,

and he wanted Jesus to perform a sign to make him feel good. In

Verse nine, Pilot questions Jesus, and Jesus doesn't say a single word to

him. The king who killed his cousin, John the Baptist had already sealed

his eternal fate. Christ knew that if he said any to Herod, it

wouldn't matter. He wouldn't be moved, so he was silent. Jesus gave

him no signs, no wonders, no miracles to please his ego and curiosity.

All the while the chief priests and scribes were standing there screaming at Jesus,

accusing him of everything under the sun. The man who got no answers

for Jesus from Jesus turned on Jesus, and they turned Jesus into a court.

Jester look at verse eleven of Luke twenty three, and Herod with his

soldiers, treated him with contempt and mocked him, then arraying him in gorgeous

at peril. He sent him back to Pilate. The Greek text indicates that

they despised Jesus and they treated him like nothing. When you treat someone like

nothing, it's a journey to get there. You don't get there accidentally.

You can eventually do this because you have lost your own dignity. We call

that morals, which makes it possible for you to dehumanize another human being.

That's what Hitler did to the Jews, and that's what the Jewish leaders did

to Jesus. They came to think of him as just the enemy, not

as a brother of the human race, not as someone, but as some

cause to be defeated. And when you dehumanize someone in your own mind,

it doesn't take much time before you treat them like dirt. Jesus had his

round in the circus of the jokesters, who sent him back to pilot for

another round of injustice. Jesus came to Herod in normal clothes, and he

made him a court jester. Ha ha ha ha, Jesus is here,

spit at him, smack him around the little bit. Herod sent Jesus right

back to Pilot, dressed like a king, Luke says, to complete the

joke of the night. So the Spear sent Jesus to the scaredy Cat,

who sent Jesus right back to the Spear. The Spear couldn't get Jesus out

of his life that day. Jesus has a way, dear Heart, of

coming back into your life until you reject him for the last time. He

loved Pilot, and so divine providence moved him right back to Pilot. Herod

didn't care anymore. Herod already rejected Jesus, so Jesus came back to Pilot

the Spear to give him another round to surrender, to give his heart to

him. It's strange how fear and aggression can get along to persecute God's people.

If you doubt it, just ask the scaredy Cat and the Spear how

it is done, Luke twenty three, verse twelve. And Herod and Pilot

became friends with each other that very day. Before this day, they had

been at enmity with each other. What lessons do we learn from all this,

dear Heart, we learn that evil makes friends to destroy the people of

God who are righteous. Evil coalitions naturally form to stamp out the preaching of

the word roy commandment, keeping people. It doesn't matter. And you can

say, well, pastor Mike, I'm a good Republican, so what.

And you can say I'm a good Democrat, so what? Because only one

party is going to get you to the Kingdom God, what is it?

It's the Kingdom of God party that follows the lamb of Mount Zion. At

the end, the left and the right will unite, as they did with

the Sadducees and the Pharisees, to crucify Jesus. We should not be in

the game of having political mindsets. We should be in the game of being

spiritually minded. The Christian Church should be focused on the mission of Jesus to

take the Gospel of the world. We learn that evil makes friends to destroy

the people of God who righteous. Satan's Kingdom is an alliance of kingdoms that

unite to mock and ultimately destroy Jesus and anyone else like Jesus who wants to

make a difference by sharing the truth of Jesus. Pilot's response begins in verses

thirteen and fourteen. Luke twin Pilot then called together the chief priests and the

rulers and the people, and he said to them, you brought me this

man as one who was perverting the people. And after examining him before you,

behold, I do not find this man guilty of any of your charges

against him fifteen sixteen. Neither did Herod. For you send him back to

us. Behold, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will

therefore chastise him and release him. He's saying, look, we've been you

know, we've been mocking Jesus on this kind of thing, but he's not

guilty. Politicians do the expedient thing, but they seldom ever do the right

thing for God and others. Yeah. I once turned to a pastor who

was in a position of leadership, and I told that pastor, when we

were struggling for our very existence at reaching Hearts, that I am not a

politican. And I mean it because I want to stand on the sea of

glass with Jesus, who was not a politician. Christ wanted to do the

right thing, no matter what it meant, and the right thing was all

he was about was following his father God look. In verse Thirteenot calls the

religious leaders together again to remind them of their accusations against Jesus. He also

reminds them that he found Jesus not guilty that day. So what's the problem.

Politicians are not concerned with what's right and wrong. Politicians are driven by

what is expedient for their own self interest and power. Pilots shocked them that

day enough to say that Herod had agreed with him. So what did Pilot

the Spirit do to Jesus? An innocent man by his own confession? He

scourged Jesus so the religious leaders would calm down and leave him alone. Imagine

that you say this man is not guilty, and then they come and they

whip him to where he's bleeding profusely. To make a point, friends,

it's wrong to discipline a person to impress others. If they need the discipline,

it's okay if it's done right, But to do it happened to Jesus

is so wrong. Pilot promised to flog Jesus and then let him go.

He made two promises. Pilot kept the first of his promise, but the

second he didn't keep. It was the custom of the Romans to throw a

bone to the Jewish people every passover by releasing a prisoner. Barabbas was a

murder and he stood beside Jesus that day. His name in Hebrew means the

son of the Father. Barabbas represents the entire human race, that is the

son of the Father, that is guilty. And yet he was set free

that day so Jesus could die for every son and daughter of the Father,

from Adam to the end. Barrabbas represents us all. Christ took Barabbas's place

in death. We are all children of destruction, We've all done the evil

that deserves death, and Jesus took our place. Paradox, the Jewish leaders

insisted that day that Jesus should die and that a guilty man be released in

his place. They didn't even know that they were evoking the very concept of

the Gospel that while someone will scarcely die for a righteous man, Paul says

in Romans five, but Christ, God demonstrates his love for us, and

that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Christ died for

Brabis twenty three eighteen. But they all cried out together away with this man

and released to us for Rabbis, a man who had been thrown into prison

for an insurrection started in the city, and for murder. They accused Jesus

of insurrection, and yet they chose a man instead of Jesus, who was

guilty of insurrection. Jesus raised the dead, and he healed the sick,

yet they chose a murder instead of Jesus. Luke is careful to record that

they all cried together to crucify Jesus and to take him away. And so

they released Jesus and they let Barrabbas go. I don't know if Brabbas ever

turned to Jesus. As a movie about Barrabbas, anybody ever see the movie,

it's the idea that Brabbas became a Christian. Maybe so, I don't

know, but one thing is for sure. Jesus death gave Barabbas the chance

to live. That's a good thing, isn't it. Pilot realized that the

situation was getting out of control for him and his whole own power. The

mob was wholly bent on destroying Jesus, the religious mob, no matter what

the cost. They wanted him dead Verse twenty. Pilot addressed them once more,

desire to release Jesus, but they shouted out, crucify, crucify him.

A third time, he said to them, why what evil has he

done? I have found in him no crime deserves him death. I will

therefore chastise him, scourage him, whip him, and release him for what.

Notice his mindset, it's not guided by principal justice or anything politics.

Notice that Pyla is here making a promise he will not keep. That's what

politicians do. They say what they believe the people want to hear. If

the people that had become the mob had put the same energy into praying and

praising God that they put into demanding Jesus death, their nation would have risen

from the ashes, and they would have realized national greatness, and God would

have used them to take the gospel to the world. But they didn't.

They chose to jeer and complain instead of pray and praise. And that's a

lesson for us in the Church. We are called to pray and praise,

not jeer and complain. The Jewish nation was no more special to God than

its connection to Jesus that day, and nor are we if we don't maintain

our vital love relationship to Jesus. We are not special as the people of

God. But Jesus. They possessed all all the promises of God given to

Abraham for their good because Christ was the true Israelite, not them. Without

Jesus, they were toast on a Roman fire. The same is true for

our church today. Without Jesus we are toast at the hands of the enemy.

With Jesus we will have a future and a hope to make a difference.

Look at verse twenty three. But they were urgent, demanding, with

loud cries that he should be crucified, and their voices prevailed. Politicians don't

care about truth and justice. They care about themselves in power. Thus Pilot

his name the spear. Don't do anything to get along to keep that power

position praise. They care about staying in power instead of administering power for the

good of others. In theory, the demands and cries of the mob should

not have it move a good leader from doing the right thing. But when

the leader is not right, then the mob wins. It wins by moving

the needle from the true through the north to the direction of the wind.

Pilot was named the spear, and so the compass needle of the spear moved

from God to men. Pile had all the power of Rome behind his spear,

but he had no power in his heart to do the right thing for

God and the people. The world today, I say this forthrightly needs men

and women and young people also who will value justice enough to be true to

God in their personal lives, true to God in every situation of their life,

true to God in the Church, the world, the nation. Here's

a quote I'm gonna put on the screen here by Sister White in the book

Education, page fifty seven. It's just amazing how meaningful this quote is.

We need a generation of avianous young people become leaders in the church who live

like this. The greatest wants of the world is the one of men,

and she means men and women. Men who will not be bought or sold,

Men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do

not fear to call sin by its right name. Men whose conscience is as

true to duty as the need of the pole. Men who will stand for

the right of the heaven's fall. That is the need of the want of

the world. Jesus was that kind of leader. After the mob of religious

religious leaders kept screaming at Pilot to crucify Jesus. He finally gave in to

the mob verse twenty four. So Pilot gave sentence that their demand should be

granted. He released the man who'd been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder,

whom they asked for, But Jesus he delivered up to their will.

Pilot did not know that he was fulfilling prophecy that day. He did not

know that he was the new king who was named the Spear, and Jesus

was able, whose name means vanity meaninglessness. Friend, when you're suffering for

being a good person instead of suffering for wrong and Peter says, take care

of you. Don't suffer for doing wrong. But if you're really suffering for

doing the right thing, and you've handled yourself well, it can seem like

nothing matters in your life of injustice. Many people have died throughout the centuries

for doing the right thing, and they went to their grace feeling like it

didn't matter to God or anyone else. Jesus went through that kind of injustice

to earn his right to save us. He suffered at the hands of unjust

men and women, so that he could give us the justice of God that

saves us. Jesus felt the pains that we will never feel, so we

can know the joy that is rightfully his. He went through it so we

can be saved. Isaiah fifty verses five to ten prophetic of what Jesus was

going through right here in Luke twenty three. The Lord God has opened my

ear, and I was not rebellious. I turned not backward. I gave

my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the

beard. I hid not my face from shame and spitting, for the Lord

God helps me. Therefore I have not been confounded. He says. They

slapped Jesus around. They did all this to him. He held his cool

as he realized he had to stand tall for God in the midst of the

mob. Isaiah predicted it. Therefore, I've set my face like a flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame. That word

flint is the Hebrew word for calameche. It's the word used for the blue

sapphire stone throne of God from which the Law of God was taken. He

says, I have set my face like the firm rock of ages, And

I will not be moved. Who will contend with me? Let us stand

together? Who is my adversary? He's talking like job. Let me come

nearer to me, Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord

God helps me. Who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them

will wear out like a garment. The moth will eat them up. Who

among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant, Who walks

in darkness and has no light, yet trusts in the name of the Lord,

and relies upon his God. And the answer is Jesus. Jesus did

that. Isaiah saw what Jesus experienced in the hands of the spear and the

scaredy cat King. He predicted it in advance so we could know that God's

word is true and that Jesus is the real thing. Jesus suffered the worst

injustice in the history of the universe to bring us back to God. He

died for every single human being, as if he was guilty for everything they

ever did, because he loves us. He suffered between the two extremes of

the scaredy cat King and the politician procurator named the spear. He trusted himself

to God instead of men. When it hurt to trust God. He went

to the cross for the crime of being the Christ, the Son of God,

the Messiah, and he was condemned because he wouldn't change who he was

to get along with power politicians or theologians. Jesus wouldn't deviate from the will

of God in his life, and nor should we. He wouldn't stick his

finger in the wind to make the mob go happy at the expense of what

is right with God, and to compromise. He wouldn't sell his soul to

be liked by the masses. We all have a choice to make in life,

you see, Jesus made his choice as well. We can choose to

be good people like Jesus, or we can choose to be evil people like

Pilot Herod in the mob. The test comes to every man and woman at

a hard time in life. We are nearing a time in human history before

the mark of the Beast, when every single person will be tested for truth

and righteousness in their life. Recently, someone said, well, pastor Mike,

why do you keep talking about this Because it's coming. It's coming upon

the whole world. The Bible says to test those who dwell their in and

that coming is the mark of the beast. Test that test that's coming.

There are churches today who have agreed to legitimize homosexual lifestyle. Now, look,

God loves homosexual brothers and sisters, and I say brothers and sisters who

love Him who have surrendered their life to Him. I have close friends who

are by nature homosexual, but they do not practice. They have given their

lives to Christ, their godly men and women. So I'm not demonizing anybody

here. But when we make that lifestyle, we legitimize it in the pulpit

and the churches of our land, or even in our own denomination. Because

you can have churches go rogue. It becomes a synagogue of Satan. God

is not mocked by that. The love of the world is not acceptable in

the church. God loves these dear people. He wants them in church every

Sabbath. He wants us to love them back. But you know, dear

heart, he doesn't want us to change one word of the truth to make

it so. There are churches that have opened their halls to spiritualistic mediums and

drinking and praying, partying and dancing, or are thinking it's okay to do

it after church hours, to visit those pubs and places and call it witnessing

when it's not. They have become a synagogue of Satan. There are churches

that wilfully set aside the precepts of the Ten Commandments to get along and be

popular. I want to tell you right now, reaching hearts is a church

that will not set aside one principle, the Decalogue to get along. We

will live for Jesus. Here. There are churches that wilfully set aside the

Ten Commandments so they can be popular and fill the pews. They have become

a synagogue of Satan. When the spear sent Jesus to the scaredy cat King,

the scaredy cat King send Jesus right back to the spear, and pilot

agreed to crucify Jesus to get along with the mob. So aggression and indifference

came together to destroy the Messiah. There are pilots today who do the same

thing to get along. We are duty bound as Christians to stand for truth

and what is right. Though the heavens fall. We are duty bound.

We are to leave the consequences of doing right to God and be about doing

the right thing for Jesus and others. Peter shared his snapshot of the beautiful

character of Jesus who endured all of this to save us from our sins.

One Peter two twenty three, twenty five. When he was reviled, what

does the Bible say? Read it with me? He did not revile and

return when he suffered? What does the Bible say? He did not threatened,

but he trusted himself to Him who judges justly. An next verse here

he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. Have you ever

messed up in your life? You've been angry as someone? You ever sin?

You've been in moral in your life? You don't raise your hands,

keep them down? You ever had bad health practices? You ever just let

God down so bad that you feel that you can't come to church anymore.

Look, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. He

took care of that for you and me, that we might die to sin,

not so we can have the world come into the church in our lives,

but that we can really have victory in our lives and live to righteousness.

And I like what he says next, by his wounds, you have

been healed. We weren't healed by anything other than that would hurt Jesus,

for you were strained like sheep. I can't save myself. Cornelius. I'm

so glad you bring people to church. You're a soul winner, and you

have given testimony to the Lord that you're not going to let a stroke prevent

you from bringing men and women to Jesus. God be praised for your testimony,

for you were strained like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd

and guardian of your souls. As we finish this day, I'm going to

ask a very simple question. Would you affirm in your life that you will

come home to Jesus today and just raise your hand affirm with me. I'm

for Jesus and nothing else around here. The Lord has taken note of that.

May you be kept in the power of Jesus in these times in which

we live. God bless you all through Heavenly Father. If we are honest

with ourselves, we're the scaredy cat at times and the spear, and we're

the mob in between. And Father, we all put Jesus on that cross,

and Lord, we are the ones that deserve the cross. Father,

May you r people go from this place trustful and resting in Jesus, content

to follow him and not people. And may you Father give them the forgiveness

of their sins according to your grace and mercy through the Gospel. And may

the bluestone face, the flinty rock that was the eternal rock of Ages keep

everyone here he could keep himself by faith, and you keep us too.

And Lord, in these difficult times we're living, help us to not be

difficult, but have the right mindset to be humble for you, because we're

all naturally not. And thank you for Jesus, who is our role model

in these things. Bless the church, keep them safe. We've had the

fourth of July. Give us true independence in Jesus' name. Amen, Amen,

thank you,