Putting the King on Trial

[00:00:00] We're spending these weeks leading up to Easter, focusing on Luke's account of Jesus trial, and then his death all then leading up to the celebration of his resurrection on Easter Sunday. You know, throughout history, that's been a common thing for Christians, for churches to do, you know, to take this time leading up to Easter as a time of, of reflecting on all that Jesus has done as a way of kind of preparing our own hearts, preparing our own minds, uh, for Good Friday, for Easter Sunday.

And, and I hope that you see in the midst of this, you know, that, that we don't do it every year where we focus on this. But this year I felt God calling us to do. And I hope that as you see this, it's not only that we, we learn a little more about what happened about those stories. Uh, we learn not only about the events, but we learn about the meaning and what it means to us in how Jesus, these truths of Jesus actually walk into our own lives.

And so this morning we're gonna be looking at Luke chapter 23, the first 25 verses. And it's really focusing on Jesus' trial [00:01:00] before the political leaders of his day. Before Pilate, before Herod. And um, and, and I always encourage you if you have a Bible, to open it up and keep it open so you could follow along, uh, with us in message.

But let me begin by reading the passage we're gonna be diving into today. It's a longer passage, Luke 23, starting in verse one. Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. And they began to accuse him saying, we found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar and saying that he himself is a, is Christ a king?

And Pilate asked him, are you king of the Jews? And he answered him, you, you have said so. And then Pilate said to the chief priest and the crowds, I find no guilt in this man, but they were urgent saying he stirs up the people teaching throughout all Judea from Galilee, even to this place. When Pilate heard this, he asked whether this man was a Galilean, and when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, [00:02:00] who himself was in Jerusalem at that time.

When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad for he had been long desired to see him because he had heard about him and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. So he questioned at him some length, but he made no answer. The chief priest and the scribes stood by ly accusing him and her and his shoulders treated him with contempt and mocked him.

They raid him in splendid clothing and he sent him back to pil. Her and Pilate became friends with each other that very day. For before this, they had been at enmity with each other. The pilot then called together the chief priests and the rulers of the people and said to them, you brought me this man as one who is misleading the people, and after examining him before you, behold, I do not find this man guilty of any of the charges against him.

Neither did Herod for, he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him. But they all cried out together, away with this man and released to us, [00:03:00] Abba, a man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection, started in the city and for murder.

Pilate addressed him once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, crucify, crucify him. And a third time he said to them, why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt, deserving of death. I'll therefore punish and release him. But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified and their voices prevailed.

And so Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. And he released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder for whom they had asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will. May God bless the reading of his word. Let me pray. Father, thank you for the privilege that we have to come together this morning.

Father, to be able to again dive into this passage. I thank you for the truth that is here. It not only tells us about what happened and what Jesus did and his great love for us, but Father, we see even in this passage, not the act, only the actions of Jesus, but the hearts of those that opposed him. [00:04:00] And Father, even in the story, we can see something of our own hearts of where we can likewise go astray.

And Father, I pray that you would now speak, that you would speak through me and in spite of me, father, that your word would speak and Father, that you would use me as a, a very flawed servant to communicate the, the perfect message of your word. Father, I pray your blessing in our time. In Jesus' name, amen.

Now, when we read of Jesus' trial and his crucifixion, I, I think we run into some natural challenges, uh, because we tend to read the story somewhat through our own cultural lens. You see, when we think of a trial, we think of judges that are seeking truth and and justice. The goal of a trial is to discover the truth, be behind an accusation, and then give a verdict based on that truth.

When we think of judges, we think of people that are accountable to the law of the land and ultimately to the people, and we think in democratic terms. But when we look at these trials of Jesus, what we need to realize is [00:05:00] these trials are nothing like our judicial system. The judges here weren't concerned about the truthfulness of the charges against him.

They, they weren't concerned about the justice of the verdict. They were concerned primarily about the political implications of his charges and his trials. They weren't concerned about what was right, but how his claims would impact them. We're gonna look at this a little more closely and we're gonna see that it wasn't one trial, it was actually a series of trials where Jesus faced multiple judges.

In fact, last week we looked at, in the end of chapter 22, Jesus' trial before the religious leaders. And what we saw is that their concern was primarily Jesus' religious claims. They found Jesus, uh, guilty of claiming to be God. And their problem though was that they lacked the authority to carry out the sentence of death they thought Jesus deserved.

See, Israel was a Roman province. They were part of the great Roman empire. And what Rome would do when they took over an area is they would leave [00:06:00] in place some of the, the political leaders of that area, and they would grant them some power. More of a, a symbolic token power. But the real power was retrained, retained in the, the, uh, Roman governors who had been wrote appointed by Rome.

And so what's important to see in this part of Jesus' story is that Jesus had not given these local governors, the, or the local, uh, local government, I'm sorry, the local government, the authority to execute prisoners. So after condemning Jesus in the religious court, see now they have to go to the Roman governor and they have to ask Pilate to do what they wanted to do, wanted to kill Jesus.

Now Pilate was the leader, he was for 10 years actually, uh, from 26 AD to 36 ad He was the governor of the province of Judea and, uh, Pontius Pilate. And, and what we're told here is that immediately after the religious leaders condemn Jesus, they now bring him in the early morning to pilot seeking to get pilot to do their [00:07:00] will.

Now the first thing we need to do is look at the charge that these leaders brought to Pilate against Jesus. We see this in the first couple verses of 23. If you have your Bibles open, we're told them, the whole company, these are the religious leaders, arose and brought him before Pilate and they began to accuse him saying, we found this man guilty or, or, uh, we found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar and saying that he himself is a Christ and a king.

They're accusing Jesus of being a political leader, and, and they're actually even making up a claim beyond that. Well, he's telling people they shouldn't pay taxes. Now again, if you were here last week and you looked at last week, you know, we say, okay, this seems like a strange accusation because if you look at, again, Luke 22 at the end, and the religion, uh, trial, before the religious leaders, it was all focused on religious charges.

I mean, they said in, in verse 2067, you know, if you are the Christ, tell us. And, and then you know, later on, [00:08:00] as Jesus responds, they get you totally overwhelmed. Are you the son of God then? And he said to them, you say that I am. And they said, what further testimony do we need? We have heard it from our, you know, for his own lips.

And so their concern is that he's making a religious claim. There's no mention at all of political claim, so then we have to ask why is it now they come to Pilate and they make no mention of religious things, but they just say he wants to be a political leader. He has a political agenda, and the reason is that all the Jewish leaders knew that the Roman authorities had no concern about religious claims of Jesus.

You know, if they had to come and said he claims to be the Messiah, you know, religious leader, they would've said, so what? That doesn't bother us if, if, if they, even if he claimed to be a Jewish God. Well, so what? They had many gods. And for that reason, now they come before Pilate and they don't tell him about the things that really upset them about his claim to be the Messiah, but they now say, no.

He claims to be a king, not a religious leader, a political leader. [00:09:00] He, he's gonna stir up a revolt against Rome, is what they're implying. And not only that, they go to a very specific accusation saying that Jesus is using that claim to subvert the nation, telling people they shouldn't pay taxes. And again, the strange thing is that if you know the story, it's totally made up.

They had gone to try to trick Jesus into saying that Jesus saw the trap. He, he didn't say it, but now they're willing to lie. They're gonna make up anything that they can to try to make Jesus look like a threat to the Roman authority. So Pilate responds to this accusation by asking Jesus, are you the king of the Jews?

And the ultimate question is, did Jesus come as a king? You know, did he come to establish a kingdom? Was he a king that came to establish his reign over people's lives? If he actually looked throughout most of the gospels, he doesn't generally make the call to claim to be a king, but he does talk about his kingdom repeatedly or, or then we can look back and Psalm on in Luke 19, Palm Sunday.

It was only four or five days [00:10:00] before this when Jesus entered into Jerusalem and the people called came out and they shouted. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. And Jesus accepted their shouts of praise. So was he a king? See the religious leaders accused Jesus of seeking to be a king, and Pilate responds to the accusation with a very direct question, are you king of the Jews?

He's asking, are you a political leader with a political agenda, like they said? And Jesus responds to this really queer ques question with a very unclear answer. Again, very straightforward. Are you king of the Jews? And he responds back. We see an ESV. You have said so now, what is that answer? Is that a yes?

Is that a no? It's actually in the Greek. It's actually less clear, believe it or not. He literally responds with two words. He, he comes back and he said, you say now, in fact, in a lot of translations, have res struggled with this. Because it's so [00:11:00] unclear. It's no nebulous that, that some translations actually try to clear it up and, and, and they, but in doing so, they kind of imply that it's either a yes or no.

So for example, you know, we, we see, and he's literally said, you say, but you have like some, like the NIV, you know? Yes. Is as it is you say, saying, yes, I agree. It's a, it's implied a yes, but you have others. So like the message, you know, what they do is these, those are not, those are your words, not mine.

Implying. No, no, I'm not. But the real thing that Jesus said, it's really, you know, you say it's a very cryptic thing that, that we have in the sv it's, it's more you have said, so it's kind of that it's really cryptic and, and here's what I want you to realize. Jesus I think is unclear for a reason. It's not that Jesus doesn't know how to give a direct answer.

It is not that he doesn't know how to express himself. He gives this kind of of nebulous answer because he knew that Pilate was asking a question that was the wrong question. In some sense, it wasn't. It wasn't fair [00:12:00] because there wasn't a yes or no answer that he could give. I mean, there are questions like that, you know?

So for example, what if I come and ask you, so if you stop stealing from your workplace, I mean, what are you gonna say? You can't say. You say, well, well, yes, I have. Well, you're implying that you used to do that, and if you, well, no, I haven't. Well, you're implying that you're continuing to do it. It's, it's an unfair question.

I mean, there are other ones that, especially men, I mean, we sometimes we're asked that, you know, your wife asked, does this make me look fat? That's a unfair question. That's, you know, that's, there's no answer. Or, or she buys a new outfit and she's really excited about it, and you, and you look at it, man, it looks really bad.

And she asks you, do I look nice in this? I mean, what do you, what are you gonna say to that? Or you're with your wife and you walk past a beautiful woman and, and she looks and says, so, do you find her attractive? I mean, it don't answer that guys. I mean, that's a, that's an unfair question. I mean, you gotta say no, that, no, I find you attractive.

I mean, it's like, how do I change the subject here? [00:13:00] And so what you see here is that PIL is asking this unfair question because his question is not, are you the Messiah, but are you a political king? Like they're accusing you of. And he refuses to give a direct answer because he has a unique view of authority.

Why? Because if he said yes, it would've been implying. Yes, I am a political king. I'm coming to set up a political kingdom. Yes, I am a threat to the old, the Roman government. I. But that wasn't his agenda. In fact, in the Book of John, we have a longer record of the whole discussion that Jesus had with Pilate and, and we're told that Jesus makes that clear with Pilate that wasn't his agenda.

And John chapter 18, Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would've been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not from the the world. And so he is a little more queer there saying, no, I'm not a political king.

That's not what I came to do. If I were, I'd be going about this totally differently, [00:14:00] but on the other hand, if Jesus answered Pilate with a no no, I'm not a king, it, it basically would be saying, no, I'm not seeking to establish a kingdom. I'm not claiming to be the ultimate authority over anybody. He would, in essence be saying, no, I'm just a religious leader.

I'm just offering advice. I'm offering truth. I have no claims over people's lives. Um, you know, I'm just here to give you religious truth and one dimension of life. So what Jesus does is he responds by saying, you say this incredibly nebulous, intentionally unclear answer. In essence saying, Pilate, you're asking the wrong question.

You're asking the wrong question. No, it's not the question of whether I'm gonna be a political king. I'm not coming to do that. I'm not trying to challenge Romans rule. But yes, I am a king, and ultimately everyone, including yourself, should bow to my authority. So that's the core issue, but let's see how this plays out then in, in these trials.

And we see it, first of all, playing [00:15:00] out with Pilate and, and this whole interaction with Pilate. And we're going to see that Pilate was entrusted with the job of judging Jesus. But in actual practice, he was far more concerned with defending his own agenda, his own position, than he was in discovering the truth about who Jesus really was.

Again, as I said earlier, Pontius Pilate was the governor of this area and, and had been now for, for about seven years before this. He's a real historical character that we know, not only from the Bible but through multiple other Roman historical records and all the records that we have show that Pilate was pretty, was a kind of a nasty guy.

Uh, he, he hated the, the Jews that he was there to we, and, and he didn't care about issues like innocence or. Or even, you know, his, his power, he had no reluctance in killing people that got in his way. In fact, we see this even earlier in the bible, in, in the, in the gospel of Luke, in Luke 13. We read about this.

There were some present at that very time who told the Galileans, uh, about the Galileans whose blood [00:16:00] Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And so they're talking about this event that we, again, know from other historical, uh, uh, records that pilot, you know, had, there was, uh, some revolt in Galway and some pilot just basically sent.

His, his soldiers into the temple while people are offering sacrifices just to kill as many of 'em as they could. And so there were, there were people there that were almost guilty of no crime, whether being in the wrong place in the wrong time, and Pilate didn't concerned about that. He was, you know, he just used his power.

He, he was one that you would not expect to hesitate to kill Jesus for any other reason than Jesus just got in the way. He's a headache. It wasn't like Jesus was a Roman citizen who had any rights, and numerous stories will tell us about Pilate, that he would use his force to get people out of the way that were problem.

And knowing that about Pilate, it's strange how he then approaches Jesus. You see, in spite of the fact that Pilate is known to be this harsh man who would not hesitate to kill a man for a little or no reason, the [00:17:00] Bible clearly presents this picture of Pilate trying to set Jesus free in spite of all this political pressure for him to kill Jesus.

In fact, we see Pilate pronounced Jesus innocent. In verse four, in verse 70, he sends him to Herod and, and, and after Herod finds him innocent. In verse 14, he calls him innocent again. Then he tries to find a compromise. Here, let me just whip him and then set him free. And, but when the people still call for his death again in 22, he, he tries to, to say he's innocent and set 'em free again.

And all of this seems totally inconsistent with pil. And why is it that this man who would at the drop of a hat, get rid of someone who's a headache? Is, is trying so hard to set Jesus free. And I think the reason is, and you see this in the Bible, is that he saw that Jesus was not an ordinary man. He saw something in Jesus that that actually made Jesus claims ring true.

He all four, the gospels tell us that Pilates started his trial by asking, are you the king of the [00:18:00] Jews? All four. The gospels tell us that Jesus responded with this cryptic you say. It, but then we're told that there was a longer interaction. And some of them, especially John, you know, gives us this, you know, the questioning at some length.

And so let's go, even go to John 19 and you see some of this discussion, and I want you to see some of what comes out about what Pilate sees in Jesus. And, um, so, so, you know, so Pilate, uh, qui tried to acquire him innocent. He tries to give him back to the Jewish leaders. And then in John 19, we read this verse six.

And Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and crucify him for, I find no guilt in him, and the Jews answered him. We have a law that A, and according to the law that he ought to die because he has made himself the son of God. When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. Now, what's that saying?

Think about that. When he heard that Jesus called himself a son of God, Pilate was afraid. It suggests that the religious leaders heard that and they [00:19:00] thought nothing of Jesus' claim. But Pilate heard it and said, this might be true. This guy, there's something to this guy. There's something that makes him unique.

So we continue. Verse nine, he entered his his headquarters again and said to Jesus, where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, you will not speak to me. Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you? And Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above.

Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has greater sin. And from then on, Pils sought. Sought to release him. Now, here's what I want you to see. Usually a prisoner who would talk to the governor in this way. You have no authority and it was given to me. I mean, that would be, I mean, how dare you say that?

I mean that's, you know that that's an outrage. And yet, what do we see? We're told that from then on Pilate sought to release him. Why did he wanna set him free? [00:20:00] Because he believed that Jesus truly did have some kind of greater power, and he was afraid of it. He was smart enough to figure out that the Jewish leaders had some problem with Jesus, that, that they weren't really concerned about him claiming to be a political leader.

They, they understood that. But as he spent time with Jesus, he was able to discern there was something unique and something special about this man's. So what did he do? Look at his judgment of Jesus. You know what he does throughout the whole scene is clear that he believes there's something special. He doesn't wanna condemn him.

But at the same point, he doesn't want to anger the Jewish leaders. And there's a reason, again, historically, we know that from historical documents that at this time in his career, p Pilate was on pretty thin ice with Rome. There had been several different riots in the area under pilot's reign. And, and Caesar had basically told him, you know, Pilate, one more blow up and you're finished.

In fact, we know from historical records that two years after this, Pilate lost his pre position as [00:21:00] Proco because he mishandled a disturbance and he was then banished to Gall where he committed suicide. So Pilate's main job was concerned, was, was keeping his job or main concern was keeping his job. He wanted to avoid any kind of se, serious civil unrest that might get him in trouble with his bosses back in Rome.

He's more concerned about protecting his position as governor than he is discovering the truth about Jesus. But at the same time, he can't escape that there's something unique about Jesus. He's sure that Jesus is innocent of what he's being charged of. And not only that, there's something unique. There's something powerful.

So first he tries to send it to Harod and say, well, Harod, you take it. And, and Harod says, no, I don't want to. And he, he's Harod. We're gonna see in a moment, sees likewise there's something unique. So he sends him back to pilot. Pilate then tries to release him, and the people object. He then, you know, beats him and, and hopes that's gonna make people happy.

And then he tries to force the Jews of accepting Jesus and his decision to say, I'm gonna release [00:22:00] Jesus, or bra us a, a violent rebel. And the people continue to call out for Jesus death. And Luke presents Pilate as this man who is in a sense attracted to Jesus, who knows that there's something to him, but doesn't want to pay the price of actually siding with him.

So he tries to stay neutral. He tries to not make a decision, but in avoiding the decision to, to not accept him, he actually makes the decision to reject him. And so when we see PIL in this way, we've gotta see that the core reason behind pilot's failure is a core issue that we still face today. You see, I've talked to people all the time who will tell me in talking about Jesus, that you know that I wanna be neutral, basically.

Well, I don't see him as, God, I don't submit them in my life, but, but I like him. He's a good teacher. He's a good, he's a good moral example. And, and so what they're saying in a sense, I, you know, I, I don't wanna totally embrace him, but I don't [00:23:00] wanna reject him. I'm gonna accept him as a good moral teacher.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna go to church. And, and, you know, a lot of times people even will consider themselves Christians. Why? Because, well, I believe he existed. And I, and I like what he says. And they'll call themselves Christians. But in reality there's kind of a neutral perspective of, but I haven't really committed my life to it.

I haven't given, I haven't given Jesus control of my life and no, I, I'm, I still have the ultimate call. And here's what we need to realize. That's we're being just like Pilate. We're doing the same thing that Pilate did when we do that. We're trying to stay neutral. But like Pilate, when he tried to stay neutral, in reality, he was rejecting Jesus.

You cannot partially accept Jesus. You cannot accept his teaching and see him as a good moral teacher without also accepting his claims to be God. You cannot accept him as fa Savior without also accepting him as Lord and God. You've gotta accept him for all that he is. So where do you stand with Jesus?

Well, that's Pilate. [00:24:00] Let's look at the second judge. Herod, he too, like Pilate initially liked, Jesus, believed there was something special, special about him, but he ended up rejecting Jesus for a different reason, ultimately because Jesus wouldn't perform for him. You see, Herod said, you need to do my miracles.

And Jesus refused to perform. See, Herod was this guy that, uh, arrested John, uh, John the Baptist and had him killed, uh, after John the Baptist was killed. He hears about Jesus. And, and there's something that from the very beginning he's attracted. In fact, these, you know, this is probably months before these events, and look at what we're told here about Herod and his approach to Jesus months before now, Herod the Tetra, this is in Luke chapter nine, heard all about what was happening.

And he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead by some that Elijah had appeared by others, that one of the prophets at Old had been risen. And Herod said, John, I beheaded, but who is this? Upon whom I hear such things and he sought to see [00:25:00] him. I want you to see Herod is his, his approach to Jesus.

He's interested in Jesus. He's wanted to see him for a long while. Why? Because like Pilate, he sure there's something special about Jesus. There's some kind of authority. He'd heard about the miracles, he'd heard about the teaching. He heard about the following, but like, like Pilate, Herod wasn't trying to figure out who Jesus really was.

He, he just wanted Jesus to perform and, and we don't know for sure why. We don't know for sure. You know what his motive was. See, let's look at verse eight. If you go back in your, in your, in your Bible, and you see his approach to Jesus, he says, when Herod saw Jesus, this was at the trial. He was very glad for, he had long desire to see him because he heard about him and was hoping to see some sign done by him.

So we see that all the way back in look nine, and he's been hoping to see him for a long time. He's interested. And he's hoping that Jesus will do some sign. And again, I don't know if it's curiosity. I don't know if it's, you know, maybe [00:26:00] Jesus has some power and, and I can somehow access that, you know, get Jesus on my side and he'll use power for my good.

I don't know why, but the implication is that he liked Jesus. And if Jesus would've come and pleased him in any way, he would've likely set Jesus free if Jesus would've performed. But look at what verse nine tells us about Jesus' response. So he questioned him some length, but he, Jesus made no answer, which is interesting because outta all the other trials, Jesus answered.

You know, he, he, he had, we had long conversations with the religious leaders, with Pilate and, and, and he was willing to reason with them and talk with them. But here we're told that before Herod Jesus doesn't answer at all. Not a word. He doesn't do the miracles. He doesn't answer the questions and, and you look at this and you think, Jesus, you could have just proven your claims.

You heard here I wanted to like you. But why did Jesus refuse to answer? Why did Jesus not do any [00:27:00] miracles? Because God doesn't perform. You see, to this day, I meet numerous people who will tell me, I would believe in God if he did this. If he just, you know, did a miracle for me, others will tell me I don't believe in God because he didn't do this.

He didn't answer my prayer. He didn't intervene to stop the suffering. I can't believe anymore. And when we say that we're being like Herod, I mean look at, look at Herod. Let's look at his judgment and what we read here. Remember when Jesus came to Herod, Herod was at first happy to see him. He'd been wanting to see him, and only days ago, he would've invited Jesus in as an honored guest.

And even now, if Jesus just would be performed, Herod would've welcomed him. But instead Jesus refuses to perform. And we look at the result in verse 11, and then Herod with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then it rang him in splendid clothing. He sent him back to Pilate. Now, why did they mock him in this way?

Because he failed to prove in their mind who [00:28:00] he claimed to be. He failed to show his power in the way that they demanded. And they're basically saying, if you're not gonna do what we expect, if you don't pass our test the way we define it, we're gonna mock you. We're gonna mock your claims. Now, here's, I want you to remember, did Jesus fail to prove his power?

Now, he did prove his power. I mean, if you, if you talk about miracles, why did Herod wanna see Jesus? Because he had done the miracles. Herod. Herod heard about them. You know, Jesus had healed the lame, he'd given sight to the blame. He'd calm the storm. You know, he'd raised the dead. Lazarus is just down the road and people were talking about this guy that was dead is now alive.

There was plenty of evidence, you see, but Herod wanted Jesus to do the miracles that he demanded. And Jesus, if you don't perform for me, you must be a fake. Now, how does that play into our lives? Because I think we still, people, we could still make the mistake today. [00:29:00] You see, I'll talk to people again all the time.

They'll tell me, I don't believe in God because God allowed this to happen, or, I don't believe in God because God didn't do this when I asked him to. They're basically saying, I don't believe in God because he failed to perform the miracles that I demanded him to do. You see, when they're think about what they're saying, it's not that there's no evidence for God.

That there's no evidence for power. But the issue that so many people struggle with is not that God hasn't shown his power, but he didn't do it my way and my time and my expectations. See, and this isn't only a problem for unbelievers, I've seen countless believers, people who claim to be Christians who had to walk with God, who then fall away because of the same trap.

Oh, well, we've seen God work in our lives in the past and we've seen God work in numerous other people's lives. But, but then when I had a specific need, when I have a specific desire, I come to God and I have a specific request. God, I need you to do this. Perform this [00:30:00] for me. And when God doesn't, what we do is we mock him.

We, how can I believe when God fails to answer our prayer the way we expect, we become cynical. You know, I, I'm having a hard time believing God because God, how, how could God be good and allow this bad thing to happen? How? How can I believe in God when God doesn't answer my prayer? See, this is probably one of the most common reasons when I talk to people who don't believe in God.

This is what they talk about. And without question, I would say it is the most common reason that I've heard from people who had once had a relationship with God, who have walked away from that, walked away from their commitment to faith. In fact, I'm sure that there are people here today. That's your story.

You don't follow God. Or, or maybe you work close to God one day and man, you just, you don't have that relationship you once had because at some point in time you had a real need and, and you ask God to fix the problem and God didn't answer your prayer the way that you expected [00:31:00] him to do. And here's what I want you to see, is your response is the same as Herod's.

You walked away from Jesus, not because his claims were untrue, but because he pa failed to perform the way that you expected him to do and demanded him to do. Now, if that's even part of your story, let me encourage you. Even if you have walked away from God, even if you've mocked him, Jesus hasn't rejected you.

In fact, you may be here today because that's part of God's pursuit of you. That he wants you to hear this message. He's reaching out to you and he wants to draw you back in a relationship with him and he wants to draw you back in because that's the nature of his kingship, the nature of his reign, the nature of what he came to do.

You see, lemme go back now to Luke chapter 23 and, and the last part in verses 18 through 25. The story, part of the story where. Where, you know, where PIL offers to [00:32:00] release baras and or, or, or Jesus instead of Baras. And they, and, and you know, he's convinced that Jesus is an innocent and they tried to release him.

And so he, he comes up with this, okay, here's how my excuse I'm gonna say, well, usually this time of year, Passover, they would, they had a, a, a, um, a custom of releasing one prisoner and says, okay, I'm gonna give you a choice. This guy, Jesus, or Barass, and Barass was known to be a murderer, was, well, let look verse 18.

They all cried out together, away with this man and released to grab us a man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection, started in the city and for murder. You see, PIL thought this should be an easy question. I mean, this guy is guilty. This guy's a bad guy. This guy's is known for insurrection.

He's not only in insurrection against the Roman government. He's, he has insurrection against all leaders. He would be opposed to the religious leaders. And so Barbra was a, a real threat to the safety of the people. He rightly deserved his execution, but out of hatred for Jesus, the leaders stirred up the crowd to [00:33:00] demand the release of Barabbas and that Pilate crucified Jesus.

So we reading verse 24. So Pilate decided that their demand would be granted, and he released the man who had been known, thrown into prison for insurrection and for murder, for whom they asked. And he delivered Jesus over to their will. Now, here's part of where the story becomes really personal. You see, when you look at the story, the gospels are making it clear.

We're supposed to see that we are baras. Why? Because Baras was a real, real revolutionary. In other words, Barabbas was in jail for doing the things that Jesus was about to be punished for. Jesus Christ is punished for the sins that Baras is guilty for, and Baras is now set free by Jesus' actions. That's us.

Baras was rightly condemned in his sin and so are we and we get to walk free because of Innocent Man died in our place. Baras was the first in the long lines of people who walked free because [00:34:00] of the death of Jesus. In fact, let me show you something else that's really interesting about this guy Baras in his name.

I mean, this is getting into the language of it, but it's a really simple thing. Let me break down his name. His name literally means son of a father. I mean, a barr. It's actually breaks it down in, into the, um, ICIC Barr means son. Abba means daddy, father. His name is literally son of Father. Talk about a generic name.

Now, I think there's meaning even in that, why, how many of you are a child of a father? It's all of us. Don't you see that? Even in this name? It's saying he represents all of us. All of us are the bra uss. All his story is our story. That's the story of the gospel. Jesus came to take the punishment of the sin that we are guilty of.

He came to take our cross. I am a Barabbas, and they came to establish a kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom, not a political kingdom. It's a kingdom not established by power of [00:35:00] overthrowing the Roman government, but by allowing himself to be abused by the powerful, not by punishing his enemies, but by taking the punishment of us, even while we acted as his enemies.

And when we understand this and we embrace his gift of forgiveness, we realize that Jesus not only forgives us, he changes our identity, right? Because we are all barabbas. We are all innocent son of a father. We are all born into sin. But look what it says about what it means. That when we accept Jesus Christ, when we embrace what he's done for us, John one, to all who did receive him, he who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

I am by nature, a child of a father child, one born into sin, but when I accept Christ, he gives us the right to become children of God. My name has changed. I'm now not son of a Father. I'm son of God. I'm made right. I'm made holy before God. That's the gospel. So the question that we have to ask is, what is your response to the authority of the king?[00:36:00]

The fact is that Jesus Christ did come as a king, not a political king, not to establish a political kingdom, but he came to establish his reign and rule in the lives of, of, of everyone, that he is the ultimate. He's God. See, when Pilate asked him, are you a king? He, you know, he didn't say yes, and because he didn't come to establish a political kingdom, but he didn't say no because he did come as the ultimate authority.

I. And here's what we need to realize is that embracing God in our lives means submitting to his authority in all areas of lives, and he will change you. And there's a threat that his call is a, there's a reality that his call is a threat to us. I mean, the fact of the matter is that if we wanna protect our own authority, if we wanna protect our own agenda, if, if we want God to just serve us and do the miracles that we want him to do, when he stands before us, it's who he is is a threat.

And that's why Pilate rejected Jesus. That's why Herod rejected Jesus. That's why the religious leaders rejected Jesus. [00:37:00] They didn't wanna embrace him as king as God. And the fact of the matter is, when you embrace Jesus, Christ is who he is. He will change every part aspect of your life. So the question is how do you approach Jesus?

Yeah. Are you, is he stands, do you think? In a sense he's standing before you and you are his judge and you're going to, to judge, okay, do you meet my needs? Jesus, have you, you know, have you done the miracles I'd expect you to do? To we approach Jesus with our own pride and our own agenda. And okay, as long as you do these things and if you get in the way of my agenda, well then I'm gonna reject you.

I'm gonna mock you or, or do we come with him and we try to be like pilot and we're like, I'm neutral. I know you're good, but I don't really wanna surrender and. But don't we realize that if we don't make a decision, we're actually rejecting him? Do we expect to be the one who judges him or do we realize that we stand before him?

Who is the king of kings and Lord of Lords, who is our judge? And [00:38:00] that all of us stand before him as bar us as ones who are guilty, who deserve, who deserve the cross. But he's also one who comes as not only our judge, but as our savior, and said, okay, I'm gonna take your place. You, you're waiting there to go to the cross.

You're, you, you deserve this. But I'm gonna take that upon myself. And that he's then offers all, who would acknowledge God, I'm, I'm a sinner. I ask you to forgive me. And I realize that that's why Jesus came to die on the cross. That God, I need you to take my sins. I need you to take my cross. I, I ask for your forgiveness.

But we have to realize that when we do that, we accept him for all that he is. We accept him as our savior. As the one who has died for our sins, but we also have to accept him as God, his king, his Lord, and that we have to say, God, I ask you to forgive me, and I now submit my life to you. I don't know all that it means, but I, but I wanna be your follower.

God, help me to believe in you. Help me to trust in you, [00:39:00] my friends. There may be some here today that you've never done that before and, and God invites you to do that this morning. To realize that this is a story, that it's not only a story of thousands of years ago, it's God's story and the way he's working today in your lives.

And there may be some that you, today's the day that you say, God, I agree with you. I ask you to forgive me. And, and that may be a prayer that you pray. God, I want you to, for ask you to forgive me that Jesus Christ has taken my sins upon himself, my cross, and God ask you to be my savior. I ask you to be my God.

I'd encourage, if you've never done that, to pray that prayer this morning, if you'd like to talk more afterwards, I would encourage you to do so. There may be some others that you're here and you say, okay, I've done that before. And you know, but God, man, I'm distant from him. 'cause God didn't perform here and God didn't.

And here's why. I want you to realize, again, if that's part of your story, God has you here today because he's calling you back and he's saying, okay, I'm not always gonna perform. I'm not gonna [00:40:00] be the one that's gonna put you in charge. But I am all powerful and I am all loving. And you may not always understand exactly what I'm doing, but trust my heart.

And God invites you back to relationship where you, where you trust him. Stop being like a Herod. And, and there might be some that you're walking on the line and say, I'm not really sure and I wanna like him. And you're being like a, a pilot. I, I don't wanna commit one way or another. Again, my friends, that's not being neutral, that's rejecting.

And I hope and pray that this would be a time that you look at Jesus Christ. You see him for who he is. You embrace Him for who he is, and you know the blessings that come with forgiveness and grace in becoming a child of God. If you have a question about the Message, community Church or Jesus Christ, send us a text to 3 3 0.

432 42. You can learn more about our events [00:41:00] and community groups at CCP Life slash Connect There you can also send in a prayer request. We would love to pray for you. Have a blessed Lord's Day, and we'll see you on Sunday.