Obstructed Vision

Chapter 22, check that. We’ll
do 23 as well today, I guess. As we have done for the last
several weeks, we go again also to Isaiah’s testimony of Christ
in chapter 53. In chapter 53, That testimony about Christ that
we have reviewed so many times in the context of the Lord’s
passion. We hear again. Where Isaiah says,
who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the
Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like
a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground. He has
no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor
appearance that we should be attracted to him. He was despised
and forsaken of men, men of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And
like one from whom men hide their face, he was despised. And we did not esteem him. Surely, our griefs he himself
bore, and our sorrows he carried, and yet we ourselves esteemed
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was pierced
through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being
fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone
astray. Each of us has turned to his
own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall
on him. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth like a lamb that is led to slaughter
and like sheep that is silent before it shares. So he did not
open his mouth. We come to a lengthy section
of Scripture, no doubt, and I have at least proposed that we will
handle these passages in a bit different fashion than typically. Most of you know that one verse
is several weeks worth of preaching material. But in standing back
and looking at this, I want us to do the same. And I want us
to see that of those who reject Christ and
in our own society, even in this day and age, most do really. Most people, in fact, throughout
history have rejected Christ. Most in Jesus’ day rejected Christ. Most in our own day reject Christ. But people reject Christ for
different reasons. And I think what we’ll see as
we do take this flyover, if you will, over the end of chapter
22 and chapter 23, we will see the varied reasons and they are
multiple. We will see the very reasons
as to why people reject the Lord Jesus. Why people reject the
Lord Jesus. If you would, if you’re in Luke
chapter 22, I want to begin there in verse 63. In verse 63, Luke records, Now
the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking Him and
beating Him. And they blindfolded him and
were asking him, saying, prophesy, who is the one who hit you? They
were saying many other things against him, blaspheming. When
it was day, the council of elders and the people assembled, both
chief priests and scribes, and they led him away to their council
chamber, saying, if you are the Christ, tell us. But he said
to them, if I tell you, you will not believe. And if I ask a question,
you will not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man
will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” And they
all said, are you the Son of God then? And he said to them,
yes, I am. They said, what further need
do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves
from his own mouth. Chapter 23, then the whole body
of them got up and brought him before Pilate. And they began
to accuse him, saying, We found this man misleading our nation
and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar and saying that he himself
is a Christ, is Christ the king. So Pilate asked him, saying,
Are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him and said,
It is as you say. Then Pilate said to the chief
priests and the crowds, I find no guilt in this man. But they
kept on insisting, saying he stirs up the people, teaching
all over Judea, starting from Galilee, even as far as this
place. When Pilate heard it, he asked
whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he belonged
to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also
was in Jerusalem at that time. Now Herod was very glad when
he saw Jesus, for he had wanted to see Him for a long time, because
he had been hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign
performed by Him. And questioning Him at some length,
and he questioned Him at some length, but he answered Him nothing.
And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there accusing
Him vehemently, And Herod with his soldiers, after treating
him with contempt and mocking him, dressed him in a gorgeous
robe and sent him back to Pilate. Now Herod and Pilate became friends
with one another that very day, for before they had been enemies
with each other. Pilate summoned the chief priests
and the rulers. and the people, and said to them,
You brought this man to me as one who incites people to rebellion. And behold, having examined him
before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges
which you make against him. No, nor has Herod, for he has
sent him back to us. And behold, nothing deserving
death has been done by him. Therefore, I will punish him
and release him. Now he was obliged to release
to them at the feast one prisoner. But they cried out all together,
saying, Away with this man and release for us Barabbas. He was
one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made
in the city and for murder. Pilate, wanting to release Jesus,
addressed them again. But they kept on calling out,
saying, crucify, crucify him. And he said to them the third
time, why? What evil has this man done?
I have found in him no guilt demanding death. Therefore, I
will punish him and release him. But they were insistent and with
loud voices asking that he be crucified and their voices began
to prevail. And Pilate pronounced sentence
that their demand be granted. And he released the man they
were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection
and murder. But he delivered Jesus to their
will. There are many reasons that people
reject Christ. And there are many people in
this account who did just that. Practically speaking, they may
not have examined the claims of Christ. They may not have
even heard enough about Christ to formally reject Him in that
regard. But practically speaking, they
rejected Him. And practically speaking, millions
do. I want to take a step back, as
I said. And we’ll take, as I indicated
already, a less in-depth look at the minutia
of the passage and we’ll look just as we fly over at the rejection of Christ. What
I called faulty estimations of the Lord Jesus Christ, because
when Isaiah says, we did not esteem him, that is exactly the
problem. Most people never really looked
at Christ and considered Christ and heard the claims of Christ
and esteemed Christ for who He is. And that left them with a faulty
view of Christ. What I called obstructive vision,
a clear view of the Savior, because there was nothing wrong with
the Savior. The Savior didn’t misrepresent himself. The Savior
wasn’t incomplete. The Savior wasn’t less than perfect. He was exactly who God had sent
Him to be. He fulfilled it perfectly. The
problem was not with the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior. The
problem was that so many people’s view was obstructed. First of all, the clear view of the Savior,
first of all, is clouded by ridicule and false accusation. That’s
the first object to a clear vision. And if you would, I want to go
back to verse 63, back to the beginning of that narrative,
where Luke records, now the men who were holding Jesus in custody
were mocking Him and beating Him. This is a religious courtroom,
remember. And the charges were severe,
ultimately blasphemy. But to mock and to beat was not
the prerogative of these men, not for what they were accusing
Jesus of. And they blindfolded him and
were asking him, saying, prophesy, who is the one who hit you? And they were saying many other things
about him, blaspheming the Lord Jesus. The Gospel writers here
in these accounts seem to almost exhaust the terminology that
is used for physical violence used against the Lord Jesus.
Five completely different words are used throughout the Gospels.
Dero, a general word for meaning to strike someone in the face,
literally a punch. And what I observed just as I
was looking at these in the Greek is how many of them have that
onomatopoeia, they sound like what they mean. It came off to
me almost immediately as you read these
words. The second word is tukto, to strike or to beat someone.
Pio, to strike or to hit. Kolaphidzo was a vernacular term
that meant to strike or slap with a fist. Rapidzo, to strike with a club
or a rod. And all of these applied in this
context to the Lord Jesus. Isaiah 56 prophesied of it. I
gave my back to those who strike me, my cheek to those who pluck
out my beard. I did not cover my face. from
humiliation and spitting. To me personally, the ridicule
dealt to the Lord Jesus in this scene by covering his head and
his face with some cloak or some hood and then smacking him in
the face, mockingly daring him to prophesy who it was that struck
him. That, to me, is second only to
the mocking he receives at the crucifixion. It’s sickening. Luke goes on and says, when it
was day, the council of elders and the chief people and pardon
me, the council of elders and the people assembled, both chief
priests and scribes, and they led him away to their council
chamber. And it all sounds so official and so normal, but the
decision was already made, right? We’ve already seen that the elders,
the chief priests and the scribes, which formed the Sanhedrin, they
had already met. Not only had they already met,
they had already made pronouncement about Christ. The Sanhedrin said
one gloried in being a tribunal, but it was now an extremely degenerate
body, unworthy of its earlier traditions. The Jewish authorities
had lost the power of inflicting death. And they could only pass
the sentence of excommunication. You see, the oral law of the
Jews, in a sense, the mortar between the gaps of the law,
stipulated that the Sanhedrin could only meet officially during
the day. They could only make a formal
pronouncement during the day. And so to remedy the inconsistency
already perpetrated, the fact that they had had this mock trial
in the evening and had already pronounced judgment on Christ.
To remedy that, they simply hold another trial in the morning.
They’ve already rehearsed for it. This time it’s official,
though, as day dawns, probably around seven or eight o’clock
in the morning, realistically. Everything had been rehearsed
during the previous evening meeting. The case was all laid out. All
they had to do was walk through this trial in a public fashion,
make their pronouncement, go before Pilate, and the deal was
done. But it would all have to be repeated
in order to be official. One characterized the scene in
these terms. He said the object of the official
meeting of the Sanhedrin was somewhat different from that
of the priests in the house of Caiaphas. They had only succeeded
in establishing a poorly contrived charge of blasphemy, and even
that illegal. But blasphemy was not a charge
on which a Roman could pronounce a capital sentence, a death sentence. In order to get Christ crucified,
they needed a charge of treason, which might be constructed out
of his claim to be the Messiah. In other words, As they take
Jesus before Pilate or Herod or anybody else, even before
Caesar, they’re not going to convince any of these Roman officials
to crucify a prisoner simply on the charge of blasphemy. That’s a religious claim. Matthew’s
gospel goes even further here than this to tell us rather that
this official Jewish court had not only already accused Jesus,
they had already illegitimately found him guilty and already
had determined his sentence death. Matthew 27, one says this when
morning came, all the chief priests and all the elders of the people
conferred together It was a conspiracy. They conferred together against
Jesus to put him to death. That was the whole goal. They
took counsel against him. It’s a plain proof that they
had no intention of objectivity. They had no intention of reaching
some kind of unbiased conclusion. They met together to plan the
death of Jesus. It was murder. One characterized it like this,
he said, when an official body like the Sanhedrin by the unofficial
and illegal action of its members goes in search of witnesses against
Jesus, which they’d already done when it brings Jesus before Annas,
who had absolutely no authority. When the high priest attempts
to force the prisoner to testify against himself, the only fair
conclusion. Is that we are dealing here with
a case, not of justice, but of the perversion and miscarriage
of it. Luke continues in verse 67. By recording that they again
began to interrogate Jesus, and remember, this is a this is now
a live action rehearsal. If you are the Christ, tell us. The witnesses didn’t agree about
Christ that left them in kind of a precarious position, desperation,
really. And so they begin to ask Jesus
to make a statement, to draw him out, to say something that
they could construe as blasphemy. They wanted to be able to construct
a charge to be able to put him to death, and if Jesus will only
cooperate. If Jesus will only say something,
they’ll have it. But he said to them, if I tell
you, you will not believe. And if I ask you a question,
will not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man
will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. Jesus gave
them what they want right there. Jesus essentially quotes Psalm
110 or alludes to it. The Lord said to my Lord, sit
at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for
your feet. Daniel likewise, 7.13 says it
this way, I kept looking in the night visions and behold, with
the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming and he
came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all
the peoples and nations and men of every language might serve
him. Jesus claims to be that one. Jesus claims essentially to be
the Son of God. And they ask him in verse 70.
They’re on to it. They’ve got their case and now
they can easily build it. And they all said, Are you the
Son of God then? And he said to them, Yes, I am. Then they said, what further
need do we have of testimony? We don’t need witnesses. We don’t
even need any more out of this man’s mouth. We’ve heard it ourself
from his own mouth. John provides amazing insight
into the utter depths of the hypocrisy of this action. Listen to John 18 28. It says
that they grabbed Jesus and they led him
bound wherever he went. He was bound like a common criminal. They led Jesus from Caiaphas
to the Praetorian and it was early. And they themselves did
not enter the Praetorian so that they would not be defiled that
might eat the Passover. I don’t know if you caught it.
But their utter hypocrisy, leading Jesus around by false charge
with the whole goal of murdering Him, are afraid to set foot in
a palace of a heathen ruler because they didn’t want to be defiled. Jesus had taught earlier that’s
not what enters into the mouth. It’s what comes out of the heart.
And in their hearts, they had already committed murder. In
just hours, they will see it through. One said of this scene,
these hardened men were actually engaged in doing the most wicked
act that mortal man ever did. They wanted to kill the Messiah,
and yet at this very time, they’re talking about being defiled.
An extraordinary example of the false scrupulosity of conscience
with which a wicked man may keep up. about forms and ceremonies and
trifling externals in religion about the very time when he is
deliberately committing some gross and enormous sin. I don’t
know about this deal, I’ve never been to it, but I’m told this
Fat Tuesday is the day that you break Lent, right? So after you’ve
lived in this religious state for 40 days, then you break Lent
and go absolutely bananas. That’s what it reminds me of.
Hypocrisy, utter hypocrisy. One said that it is the most
characteristic trait of a religious and godless nation ever put on
record. The greatest act of hypocrisy
ever recorded. that they would send Christ of
all people into the praetorium, into this half prison, half palace. And yet they would remain outside
to protect their virtue. We’re considering faulty estimations
of Christ. We’re considering the fact that
there are many, in fact, most people who miss the Lord Jesus
Christ, and in this case, because of their ridicule and false accusation. They don’t really know Christ.
They don’t want to know Him. What they do know is that they don’t like what He
teaches. Many, in fact, in every moment
of history, most treat Jesus Christ like these sinful men
treated Him. They’re just like Him. They treat
him with disdain and hatred and ridicule, mocking. They are cruel,
just like them. And if he were here, I’ve said
it before, they would kill him all over again. Why? Because Jesus as God is
still contrary to their sinful lives. Jesus would still tell
them that what they’re doing is wrong and people don’t want
to hear it. They don’t want to hear that
they’re sinners. Jonathan Edwards nailed it when
he said that the strictness of God’s law is a principal cause
of man’s enmity, his hatred towards God. If God were one that did
not so much hate sin, if you would allow them in gratification
of their lusts in some degree. And if his threatenings were
not so awful against all criminal indulgence, If his threatenings were not
so absolute, if his displeasure could be appeased by a few tears,
a little reformation and the like, then they would not be
so great enemies. Nor hate him so much as they
do, but God shows Himself to be an implacable enemy to their
idols. He has threatened everlasting
wrath, infinite calamity for all that they do in the service
of their lusts. And this makes them irreconcilable
enemies to him, save for the blood of Christ. That’s why people
hate Christ. That’s why people hate Christ,
not only then, but that’s why they would hate him. Even now,
if he were here in the flesh, they would crucify him all over. There are many who have a faulty
estimation of the Lord Jesus Christ that issues forth in ridicule
and false accusation. They will not entertain who the
real Lord Jesus is because they don’t want to know him. They
don’t want to know him. Secondly, there’s a second group that we’ll
consider this morning and probably just with this group. The second faulty estimation
of Christ, the second blocked view, if you will, not only ridicule
and false accusation, but opportunistic evasion, opportunistic evasion. Some people are just so slippery.
You know, you’re so creative, you pray, you try everything
you can to kind of turn the conversation in a spiritual direction. And
they’re like a greased pig. Right. All of a sudden, the conversation
goes back to football or whatever else. But not what you want to
talk about, not what the Lord’s laid on your heart, not the gospel,
not spiritual things. No way. Opportunistic evasion, let’s
look at it. Look at Chapter 23, verse one. Where it says, then
the whole body of them got up and brought him before Pilate.
Pontius Pilate, you may know from your own studies, was a
Roman knight. a noble man who had been appointed
as a procurator of Judea. He was a heathen. His first act
as ruler of that area was to post the Roman eagles, the symbol
of power and control. And these were viewed as idolatrous
by the Jews. And it caused a huge issue between
him and the Jews. In addition to that, Pilate grabbed
and misappropriated Jewish funds for his own pet projects. Sound
familiar? Which further added to the tension.
All that to say, there was no love lost between Pilate and
the Jews. In fact, it was a mutual hatred.
He was proud, he was cruel, he was superstitious, as was his
wife, and he was self-seeking in it for himself and him only.
Verse two. And they began to accuse him,
that is, Jesus, before Pilate, saying, we found this man misleading
our nation. I mean, here they are before
the very occupier, the hated Roman government who was polluting
in every fashion imaginable the pristine Jewish culture. And
they had the audacity to bring the Lord Jesus before him. And
say, we found this man misleading our nation. Heaven forbid. And forbidding to pay taxes to
Caesar. And saying that he himself is
Christ the King. Note, right off the bat, the
disdain that they have for Jesus. Referring to him as this man,
this fellow. We caught this guy. The funny
thing, the truly amazing hypocritical thing, is that they completely
leave off the case that they had just closed in their official
meeting in indicting the Lord Jesus. Blasphemy. There they
accused and condemned Jesus of blasphemy. But blasphemy, like
I said, was a religious transgression and they knew it would never
fly. Even with Pilate, one so capricious in his judgment, And
so between the time when the gavel slams down on their own
court and the moment when they come skulking in the pilot’s
presence, they totally change the charges. What they cite at
their first stab in an official charge, and these roll right
up their tongue. I don’t think there was any plan
to it at all. They just start blurting out things. None of them true. The first
stab at an official charge is that Jesus is a seducer, an imposter,
one who leads the people astray. Basically, they were charging
him there before Pilate of treason. What one referred to as seditious
agitation, he was the original community activist. Now, their
charge is totally vague, and that’s convenient for them. It’s
without merit, without support. They don’t present any proof
to it at all. And they move quickly to a second
charge. If that one doesn’t work, let’s do this. The second charge
is completely false and they knew it. But they had to try
to get one of these political allegations to stick. The second
charge is that he refused to pay taxes. Well, everybody hated
taxes, but the Jews were absolutely livid about having to support
Rome’s programs through this taxation. Jesus had dealt with the question
already, remember Luke chapter 20. Luke chapter 20, verse 22,
they asked him, is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar
or not? But he detected their trickery
and said to them, show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription
does it have? They said Caesar’s. And he said
to them, then render the things to Caesar that are Caesar’s and
to God the things that are God’s. In other words, to pay taxes
wasn’t a spiritual issue for Christ. Christ wasn’t against
it. He didn’t teach against it. I
would even say that he paid taxes. Third, the third accusation they
bring up, they bring up the word king. Oh, and that was creative. This was sure to provoke the
secular authorities against Christ. Jesus had always, though, recoiled
from any attempt to promote him to a status of an earthly king.
John 6, 15, remember that Jesus perceiving that they were intending
to come and take him by force to make him king. I mean, I can see not running
for office. But when the populace rises up and they appoint you
as king, you know, you kind of go along with the program. All
right. Sure, it pays well. When Jesus was faced with that
proposition, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone. Likely, as we saw two weeks ago,
to prayer. John offers much more detail
on this conversation. And for that, I’d like you to
turn to John chapter 18, John 18. This was a hostile, uncomfortable,
very tenuous, very fluid conversation. Pilot had no idea what he was
getting himself into, looking for every opportunity to back
out of it. The Jews knew exactly what they
were about and were using every means possible to get this case. Not only before Pilate, but to
get him to to render a judgment, to sentence the Lord. We pick
up in verse twenty nine of John 18. Where it says, therefore, Pilate
went out to them and said, what accusation do you bring against
this man? It’s not that Pilate is totally unaware. It’s not
that Pilate was born yesterday. Pilate had certainly heard what
was going on in his city. And he probably had even read
the docket, what was the preliminary case about this prisoner. Pilate
knew. But what he’s got to do in accordance
with strict procedure, according to Roman law, he’s got to get
them to present the case. What are the charges? And they
answered him, verse 30. But note the attitude that they
come with. They answered and said to him,
if this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him
to you. They didn’t think they had to
cite the charges. What they wanted Pilate to do
was rubber stamp this thing, put him on the cross and be done
with it. In other words, this is if they
say with this tone, don’t ask any questions. Just render your commitment to
this charge, this sentence, and we’ll be done with it. As one
recorded, the Jews were taken aback by Pilate’s evident intention
of trying the case himself. How dare you stick your nose
in our business? They had expected him to merely
carry out their sentence. And they had not come prepared
with any definite accusation that much is already true. Blasphemy,
for which they’d already condemned Jesus, would be no crime with
Pilate. And so the vague charges are
brought before Pilate. Pilate said to them, take him
yourselves and judge him according to your own law. Otherwise, he
forecast, look, what you’re bringing before me is. There’s no case. If it was a grand jury, it’d
be thrown out here before pilot pilot says, look, you got nothing. Take him yourselves and judge
him according to your own law. The Jews have law and they have
punishments for breaking those laws, but what they wanted, what
they really wanted was the ability to put Christ to death. Pilate wants nothing to do with
this case, at least initially. I don’t think the man was a righteous
man. But he’s trying to do the right
thing here, at least initially, he wanted to put this whole case
away from him. And if he could avoid participating
in condemning Christ. Because they wouldn’t make any
specific charge Pilate almost refuses to deal with it. As you
go through this scene, you’ll see that Pilate in various ways
tries to avoid Jesus’ sentence. First, he tries to have them
judge the case for themselves, as he does here. Then he tries
to send Jesus to Herod. Then he tries to ultimately release
Jesus in honor of the feast, as we’ll see in a moment. And
then ultimately, he tries to just release Jesus after a severe
beating. As if that would maybe placate
his accusers, it didn’t. The Jews said to him later on
in verse thirty one there and John, the Jews said to him, we
are not permitted to put anyone to death. You took that away
from us when you moved in, remember? They continue to whine by saying
that they weren’t permitted, that Rome had taken this privilege
away and they couldn’t put anyone to death and that was a fulfillment
of Scripture. This is all by God’s design.
Remember. That was to fulfill the word,
which. Word of Jesus, which he spoke signifying by what kind
of death he was about to die, Jesus had told them. That he
was going to be crucified, Jesus had said that he was going to
hang on the tree. Had Jesus rather had the if the
Sanhedrin had executed Jesus as a blasphemer, Even if the
Sanhedrin took them himself and judged them according to his
law, he would have had to be stoned according to the law. The Jews had other means of capital
punishment, but they didn’t have crucifixion and the scriptures
made it absolutely clear that Jesus was going to suffer that
cruel death. Now, stay here in John for just
a moment. You need to grab your bulletin or just listen carefully.
Glance down at the bulletin at Luke chapter 23, verse three,
because at this point, Pilate says to him. To Jesus, that is,
are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him and said
it is, as you say, the you there is absolutely emphatic. Are you
the king of the Jews? Here’s this poorly dressed, half
beaten, individual, looking like anything but a king, and the
disdain, the hatred, the mocking tone of Pilate’s voice, are you
a king? That’s the only charge Pilate
ever really focuses on. That’s the only one that really
piqued his interest. The king, oh. I better pay attention
to this one. And he asks Christ this question. Because of the legal precedent,
the Roman legal precedent, he wanted to get it on record, is
this really according to your own lips or are you a king? Look back down, if you would,
at John, John’s gospel. Offers us significantly more
detail on this conversation, that’s why I left this here.
Look at verse thirty three. Therefore, Pilate entered into
again into the praetorium and he summoned Jesus and said to
him, Are you the king of the Jews? One commentator painted a very
vivid picture of this scene. The humble attire and lowly appearance
of our Lord can hardly fail to obstruct Pilate, regardless of
what he had heard of Jesus. A rumor was very prevalent throughout
the East at this period, fed initially by biblical prophecy.
that a king was about to arise among the Jews who would obtain
dominion over the whole world. Each of the four gospel writers
distinctly record that it was the very first question that
Pilate asked. It seemed to show that the chief
thing impressed upon the mind of Pilate about Jesus was that
he was a king. And as a king, Pilate would examine
him. As a king, he would sentence
him. And as a king, he would crucify him. Jesus goes on in verse 34 and
answered, Are you saying this on your own initiative or did
others tell you about me? Jesus wanted to exonerate him.
Pilate answered, I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the
chief priest delivered you to me. What have you done? Jesus
answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were
of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would
not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not
of this realm. And I take this to mean that Pilate
was absolutely dumbstruck. Pilate knew that he was in way
over his head. So then Pilate said to him, so
you are a king. Jesus answered, you say correctly
that I am a king for this I have been born and for this I have
come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is
born of the truth hears my voice. Jesus. Does have a kingdom. But it’s a kingdom that. Wasn’t
created or propagated by any power of this world. It doesn’t
use the world’s armies. It doesn’t use the world’s money.
It’s a kingdom that originated in heaven. It’s not from the
earth. It’s a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom that reigns over hearts. It’s a kingdom that whose goal
is not to interfere with the kingdoms of this world, not to
be caught up in them. And Pilate in his classic answer
says, what is truth? What is truth? Pilate isn’t seeking the truth.
Pilate isn’t asking Jesus to unfold the truth before him.
Pilate isn’t asking for a Bible lesson or a theology lesson or
a philosophical lesson of any kind. This is hopelessness on
parade. This question doesn’t indicate,
as one said, any serious wish to know what the truth really
is. Nor yet the despairing skepticism of a baffled thinker, rather
it is the half-pitying, half-impatient question of a practical man of
the world.” Oh yeah, right, of this truth business. What is
truth? J.C. Ryle said it this way, the
infamous question, the cold, sneering, skeptical interjection
of a mere man of the world who has persuaded himself that there
is no such thing as truth, that all religions are equally false,
that this life is all we have to care for, and that creeds
and modes of faith are only words and names and superstitions,
which no sensible person would attend to. It is precisely the
state of mind in which thousands of great and rich men of every
age live and die. What is truth? We’ll pick it up there next Lord’s
Day. But what Pilate does is practice
what countless millions and thousands do. Opportunistic evasion. They just don’t deal with it.
They don’t even entertain. Pilate didn’t even want to know
what truth is. He certainly didn’t want to converse
about it. They just evade and avoid the
truth altogether. They avoid the discussion. They’ll
be as slippery as they need to be. They’ll get out of it no
matter what. They do not want to discuss the gospel. They do not want to discuss the
claims of Christ. Those are two. And we’ll pick
back up there next Lord’s Day. But there are several others,
several other ways that people obstruct their view of the Lord
Jesus Christ, which leaves them with a faulty perspective. With
a faulty view of the Lord Jesus, the only one that can save their
soul. Let’s pray. Our gracious and merciful God,
We humble ourselves before you and thank you that you are the
only one that came and wooed our sin-deadened hearts away
from that mocking and false accusation that was so prevalent with the
Jews. Lord, we certainly know those in our own day who call
out to us from across the street, who sneer at us over the top
of the cubicle, who mock us as we pray, even at a simple restaurant. And Lord, it isn’t us that they
mock. It’s the Lord Jesus. There have always been those
and there will always be those who hate Jesus for being Jesus. They hate Him for being the Son
of God. They hate Him for being God. Lord, thank You that You
turned our hearts, if we have truly come to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. You have turned our hearts from
such foolish behavior. Grant us the grace, Father, to
feast upon Your Word in the weeks to come, to see how others have
turned their hearts. Father, grant us eyes to see
whether we are actively doing any of these ourselves. Grant
us your grace this day. Be glorified in and through us.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. you