 The title of our sermon this morning is Dispised and Rejected by Men. Dispised and rejected by men. We're in John chapter 18, and we come to the final verses here of John chapter 18 verses 38 through 40. Now considering our text, the title of our sermon today comes from Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 written 600 years before the time of Christ, where Isaiah records that he is despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. Surely he has borne our griefs and has carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. In John chapter 18, we see so clearly the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ set against a stark display of the depravity of man. Jesus Christ, the perfect, sinless, spotless lamb of God, voluntarily submitting himself, voluntarily laying down his life, submitting to the perfect will of the Father, laying down his life for his own in matchless and infinite love. And then also here in John chapter 18, fallen man, fallen man, represented here by the Jewish leaders, represented here by Pilate, by the mob that is gathered together now outside the Praetorium, and all depicting the depravity of man's heart apart from the grace of God in Christ. And also here, the lengths to which sinful men will go to reject the right of Christ to rule and reign over their lives. Now God's word emphatically teaches that this murderous rebellion, this murderous rebellion we see here in John 18 is bound up in the heart of every man. Every man harbors this rebellion, this rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is despised and rejected by men. But nowhere is that more clearly manifested than here in John chapter 18, John chapter 19, in the events leading up to inculminating in the cross. Never is the Lord more glorious, right? Never is man more hideous than at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. So as we come now to the few remaining verses of John chapter 18, we're confronted with the final rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that rejection will lead to his foreordained appointment with Golgotha. Now the ecclesiastical or the Jewish trial of the Lord has ended in utter disgrace. The Lord appeared first before Annas, then before Caiaphas, the high priest, and finally before the full Sanhedrin at Daybreak, where he was then falsely accused of blasphemy and sentence to death. Desiring to put into death by crucifixion and unable to do so without Roman approval, the Jewish leaders then take him away to stand trial before Pilate in John chapter 18, verse 28. And so begins the three part civil trial or the Roman trial of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now these hypocritical Jewish leaders intend to murder Jesus. And refusing to consider that defilement within their own hearts, they refuse to enter the Gentile Praetorium for fear of an external ritual defilement that would prevent them from observing Passover. So while they're outside gathered together with a growing Jewish multitude, Jesus is inside the Praetorium being questioned by Pilate. We know from the synoptic gospels that Pilate now will move back and forth, questioning Jesus inside the Praetorium and outside to the Jews responding to them. At one point, according to Luke's gospel, Pilate will send Jesus to Herod, who is the Roman governor of Judea or Galilee and also in Jerusalem for the Passover at this time. And so the Lord's returned to Pilate from Herod then completes the three part civil trial of the Lord Jesus Christ, where the Lord is handed over then to be crucified. Now of particular interest to us this morning in John chapter 18 verses 38 through 40 is the end of the civil trial and the full and final rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to his own, his own did not receive him. I want us to consider our text this morning under three headings. First, Pilate's rejection. Second, we'll look at the crowd's rejection. And finally, we'll look at the Lord's response. Point one, Pilate's rejection. Point two, the crowd's rejection. Point three, the Lord's response. So first, under point one, let's consider together Pilate's rejection. We've already established in going through John chapter 18 that Pilate is not a moral man. Pilate's not a moral man. He lacks integrity. He's unprincipled. He's self-absorbed. He's selfish, self-indulgent. He's concerned primarily with his own interests and he's literally willing to cut down anybody who gets in his way. And he's proven himself in this to be brutal, to be severe and unjust in his rule over the Jewish province. And his perceived strength now has been compromised by rebukes from Rome for his brutality. His harsh treatment has led to Jewish uprisings and revolts before. And one more may end his tenure as prefect and he knows it. So as he begins to question then Jesus in John chapter 18 verse 33 in a text that we looked at last week, all of this is in the mind of Pilate. As he says in verse 33, he calls Jesus to him and said to him, are you then the king of the Jews? Verse 34, Jesus answered him, are you speaking for yourself about this or did others tell you this concerning me? And Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done? Jesus answered in verse 36, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here. Pilate therefore said to him, are you a king then? Jesus answered, you say rightly that I'm a king for this cause I was born and for this cause I have come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth. And everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. And verse 38, as we come to our text, Pilate said to him, what is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no fault in him at all. A Pilate's answer in verse 38, if you look there, what is truth, right? Pilate's answer really isn't a question regarding truth as much as it is a wholesale rejection of the truth. There's a tone to his response here in verse 38, isn't there? He answers as if truth can't be known when the truth is standing right before him, right in front of him. Truth here is not a what, truth here is a who. Pilate said to him, what is truth? His outright rejection of any truth found in Jesus Christ is evident in the fact that he expects here no answer. But in verse 38, he turns immediately after saying that and goes right back out to the Jews in the courtyard. Incidentally, as we think about Pilate's response in verse 38, don't respond to God's word that way. Don't respond to God's truth that way, right? We're to humble ourselves under the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, humble ourselves to God's word. God's word isn't always meant to soothe you. It's certainly not meant to soothe you in your sin. Truth is meant to pierce. Truth is meant to cut as much as it is meant to encourage and to comfort. You have to remember as you submit yourself to the master sculptor, right? The master sculptor holds in his hand a hammer and a chisel. It's not always gonna be easy. It's not always gonna feel good. It's not meant to. You are to humble yourself to the word of God and allow the word of God to transform you. If you're a genuine Christian, Holy Spirit and Dwell, then you're to be humble and you're to be teachable under the preaching and teaching of God's word. You're to be humble. You're to be teachable when you come to read God's word. You're to be changed by it. You're to lop off everything that offends. You're to, the word of God cleans off the dross. It refines you as if by fire. So humble yourself to the word of God. Humble yourself to the preaching and teaching. Allow the word of God. Allow God, by his spirit to work through the word of God to change you. And oftentimes that change is painful. Now as much as Pilate's response in verse 38 reveals a cynicism, right? Pilate may also be somewhat exasperated here. When we consider the four gospel accounts together, it appears as though Pilate is in a battle within himself over what to do about Jesus. That battle may be as much internal within Pilate's own heart and mind as much as it is external with the Jewish leaders and with the crowd that's gathering. But Pilate here is going to reject the truth. He's going to reject the Lord. In just a short while, thinking ultimately only of himself, he will send the innocent son of God to his death. Now how he gets there, how he gets there is revealed in the text. And I want to look at that this morning from two perspectives. Pilate's rejection here from two perspectives. First, what Pilate knows. And second, what Pilate does. What he does with what he knows, right? What Pilate knows and what Pilate does. Let's think first about what Pilate knows. First, verse 38, he knows the Lord Jesus Christ is innocent. He knows he's innocent. Verse 38, Pilate said to him, what is truth? When he said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no fault in him at all. I find no idea, it means no charge, no reason for an indictment, no reason to hold him, much less put him to death, right? No fault, I find no fault in him at all. He's not a danger to the empire. He wasn't guilty of what the Jews were accusing him of. Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent, that he was blameless. Now this reality is emphasized in all four gospels. Turn with me to Luke chapter 23, Luke chapter 23. Pilate knows that he's innocent. Luke chapter 23, and after Pilate questions him, he goes back out to the Jews, the Jewish leaders now in verse four, and in Luke chapter 23, verse four, he says again, I find no fault in this man. I find no fault in this man. Look down at verse 13, verse 13. Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, he said to them, you've brought this man to me as one who misleads the people, and indeed having examined him in your presence, I have found no fault in this man concerning those things of which you accuse him. No, verse 15, neither did Herod. He sends the Lord to Herod. Herod finds no fault in him. For I sent you back to him, verse 15, and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by him. Drop down to verse 20, verse 20. Pilate therefore, therefore having found no fault, Pilate therefore desires to release him. Right, verse 20, wishing to release Jesus, he again calls out to the Jewish leaders, the Jews gathered together there, but in verse 21, they shouted, saying crucify him, crucify him. Right, verse 22, he said to them then the third time, why, what evil has he done? I've found no reason for death in him. I will therefore chastise him and let him go. Now Pilate's convinced, right? Pilate knows that he is not guilty of the charges that have been brought forward against him. Pilate knows he's innocent. Matthew and Mark both repeat Pilate's response to the bloodthirsty crowd, right? The shouts of the crowd, why? What evil has he done? Even Pilate's wife knew that the Lord Jesus Christ was innocent. Right in Matthew 27, 19, as Pilate was sitting in a judgment seat, adjudicating the case, his wife sends him a note. His wife says to Pilate, have nothing to do with this just man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him. Now, consider with me, if Pilate knew that the Lord Jesus Christ was innocent, then what was Pilate bound to do? Let him go, he's bound to release him. Pilate had a sense of justice. Pilate should have released him. Pilate knew, Pilate knew that he should have released him, and Pilate desired he wanted to release him in some part. He knew that he should release him. Peter, preaching on Solomon's porch in Acts chapter three, verse 13, said, Peter said, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. Pilate here determined initially to let him go. If Pilate were a man of integrity, if Pilate had a shred of integrity, right, he would have let him go. Justice demands it. The whole mock trial would have come to an end. The Jews would have been dismissed and dispersed, but that's not what Pilate does here. It's not what Pilate does. So one, he knows that Jesus Christ is innocent. He knows that Christ is innocent, but secondly, he knows something else. He knows that the Jews have an unrighteous motive for turning Jesus over to him. Look at Matthew chapter 27. Go with me to Matthew chapter 27. He knows that the Jews have an unrighteous motive for turning him over. Matthew chapter 27, and drop down to verse 15. Now at the feast, and we're at Passover this week, right? Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. Verse 16, and at that time, they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, whom do you want me to release to you, Barabbas or Jesus who was called Christ? For verse 18, he knew that they had handed him over because of envy. That's very interesting, right? The Jews handed over the Lord Jesus Christ because of envy. Mark chapter 15 verse 10, a test of the same fact, right? And clarifies that it was the chief priest that had handed him over because of envy. Now let's consider this for a moment, right? Malicious, murderous, wicked, bloodthirsty envy. The true motive, the true motive of the Jews isn't hidden to Pilate. He knows what they're all about. He knows why they've turned him over. Beneath all the accusations, beneath the lies, beneath the slander, beneath the trumped up charges, beneath the anger and the hate is envy. Vomited out into slander, vomited out into lies, eventually vomited out into murder. So we consider envy. Jealousy seems to be a closely related sin, right? Jealousy is more focused on what belongs to you. What you perceive belongs to you. You're jealous over what is yours, right? Covetousness, covetousness is a sinful desire for something that doesn't belong to you. It's a sinful desire for something that doesn't belong to you. Envy, envy is being angry or resentful or bitter toward the person who has that or experiences blessings that you don't want them to experience or has something that you don't want them to have. You don't think they're entitled to it or you don't think they deserve them or have a right to them. So we're jealous for what we have. We're covetous for what the other guy has. Envy is being angry or bitter that the other guy has it. The loathsome wicked sin of envy is often accompanied by a wicked cohort of other sins. Inherent in envy is covetousness, right? We're also inherent in envy is anger, resentment. When you are envious of someone, malice desires their downfall. When you are envious of someone, slander tears them down with a word. Envy will lead to strife. Envy leads to contention. Envy leads to discord, to division. Envy, envy rejoices in someone else's sin. Envy rejoices in someone else's failure, someone else's downfall. And the sin that the Holy Spirit here says ultimately led to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ was envy. Envy joined to malice. Envy joined to strife. Envy joined to slander. Envy joined to murder. As we think about this, now the ministry of the Lord wasn't conducted in private, wasn't conducted in some dark corner. The ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was public in their midst and he was always being compared wasn't he to the scribes and Pharisees, right? The people marveled at the gracious words which proceeded it from his mouth. He taught them as one having authority not as their scribes, right? John 11, after he raises Lazarus from the dead, they said, what shall we do? What shall we do, the Jews said amongst themselves? This man works many signs. They don't consider that he is God in the flesh sent by God to save the world from their sins. This man works many signs. If we let him alone, the Jews said like this, everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. Envy. What they really meant to say is the people should be following us. The people should be following us. He's not entitled to that following. We deserve that following, right? That sin having found a foothold in their hard hearts being in the sow seeds of murder. They deliberated and determined from that very day to put him to death. He was handed over for the wicked sin of envy. Now the sin of envy, if the sin of envy occasioned or precipitated the death of the Son of God, it will certainly wreak havoc and ruin in your heart and mine. I can't leave it unchecked in our hearts, right? Friend gets a new car. What do you think about that? Gets a promotion at work. How do you respond? Gets a new job. Do you rejoice? Don't tolerate that sin of envy, right? Don't tolerate the sin of envy. If men will murder the Son of God for envy, your envy will certainly bear bitter fruit. The human heart is a cesspool for sins like this, right? It's a gutter scraping the bottom of the septic tank for sins like this, right? They feed in men's hearts. They feed in your heart if they go unchecked. The only way to put down sins like envy and the cohort of sins that always accompany them is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the grace of God in Christ, crying out to God to both cleanse you of that wicked sin and protect you from it taking root in your heart. The human heart is a cesspool for envy. You have to recognize that in this text that apart from the grace of God in Christ, you are like the Jewish mob in this respect. Unless God showers upon us, lavishes upon us, grace upon grace, we cannot stand. If you think about it, that's why the Lord Jesus Christ here puts himself in the hands of envious men. It's to save his people, save his own from their sin so that we may be set free from the sin of envy. It's only by the spirit of God that we can be anything other than what we see here in this text of the mob, of the Jews, of Pilate, of Barabbas. But here, Pilate knows the truth. It's not hidden to him. It's not hidden to him. He knows that Jesus Christ is innocent. He knows that the Jews have handed him over for envy and Pilate knows the right thing to do. Pilate knows the right thing to do. In Acts chapter three, verse 13, Peter clearly says that Pilate was determined to release him. In Luke chapter 23, verse 20, he desires to release him. You can see the intent of Pilate to release him clearly in his actions. Pilate knows what is right to do here. It's not a mystery to him. Nevertheless, Pilate, being an immoral man, he lacks the strength, he lacks the courage, he lacks the fortitude to follow his conscience and to do what he knows he should do. And for the sake of satisfying his own selfish desire, for the sake of indulging fleshly desires, he delivers up an innocent man to die in the place of obedience to his conscience, right? In the place of living his life according to principle, rather than doing what he knows he should do, what does he do? What does Pilate do? Pilate suppresses the truth in his unrighteousness. Pilate suppresses the truth in his unrighteousness. Pilate knows here that the crowd, back in John chapter 18, he knows the crowd is a potential problem. Pilate knows that one more uprising with this crowd is likely to cost him his job. And so Pilate attempts to silence his own conscience so that he can do what seems best for Pilate. And that is Pilate's overarching motivation. Look at Matthew 27 again, Matthew chapter 27. Pilate here is gonna do what seems best to Pilate. He's going to violate his conscience, reject what he knows is right, and do it anyway, because he knows that we'll get him out of a tight spot here. Matthew chapter 27, and look at verse 22. Verse 22, Pilate said to them, what then shall I do with Jesus who's called Christ? They all said to him, let him be crucified. Then the governor said, why? What evil has he done? But they cried out all the more saying, let him be crucified. So when Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water, washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I'm innocent of the blood of this just person you see to it. Pilate turns them over to die. Look at Mark chapter 15, Mark chapter 15. Pilate's circumstances began to dictate to Pilate what he was going to do, rather than righteousness, rather than truth, rather than his own conscience. Mark chapter 15, and drop down to verse 12. Here we see the same thing, verse 12. Pilate answered and said to them again, what then do you want me to do with him whom you called the king of the Jews? So they cried out again, crucify him. And Pilate said to them, why? What evil has he done? But they cried out all the more, crucify him. So Pilate, interesting clarification here in verse 15, wanting, right? Desiring to gratify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them and he delivered Jesus after he scourged him to be crucified. Matthew records clearly, Pilate was concerned about the crowd. He knew that he couldn't restrain the crowd. There was a tumult rising. What did that mean for Pilate? Pilate was in trouble. Pilate had his own interest to look out for. In Mark chapter 15, verse 15, Pilate clearly says there, he wanted to gratify the crowd. He wasn't interested. At that point, his first priority wasn't releasing the Lord Jesus Christ. It wasn't releasing an innocent man who hadn't done anything wrong. At that point, Pilate's chief priority, above all else, was his own hide. He wanted to gratify the crowd. He knows he can't survive another disturbance with Rome. They're going to remove him. As if you can imagine, Pilate in a circumstance, right? Imagine yourself. You've been in circumstances like this before, right? Not exactly like this. Where your conscience screams at you, do what is right. Do what you know you should do. Your conscience screaming in your head, in your head, release this innocent man, right? Release him. Pilate goes against his conscience. Pilate at first labors for a compromise. He labors for a compromise. And when that doesn't work, Pilate will outright reject his conscience and do what is most suitable for Pilate. He caves into the pressure and Jesus dies. Now the process of this, as he attempts to evade or silence his guilty conscience, he does that first by sending Jesus to Herod. Go to Luke chapter 23 with me, Luke chapter 23. Pilate, desiring to set him free, knowing there's no fault in him, he's blameless. Pilate tries to evade his guilty conscience, ultimately tries to evade responsibility. By first sending Jesus to Herod. We see that in Luke chapter 23, beginning in verse six. When Pilate, Luke 23 verse six, when Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if Jesus were a Galilean. And as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, Pilate sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at the time. So Pilate desires to shift responsibility here to Herod. He hopes that Herod's gonna make the decision, alleviating him, him of having to make it, and getting him out of this tight spot that he's in. So in verse eight, when Herod saw Jesus, Herod was exceedingly glad for he had desired for a long time to see him because he had heard many things about him and he hoped to see some miracle done by him. Even Herod heard, right? The Lord's ministry, not in a dark corner. Everybody knew there was ample evidence for the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ and the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. There was ample evidence for them to see him as the Messiah, as God the Son. Verse nine, then he questioned him with many words, but he answered in nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes stood and vehemently accused him. Then Herod, with his men of war, treated him with contempt and mocked him. They raided him in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate. And that very day, Pilate and Herod, get this, became friends with each other for previously they'd been at enmity with each other. So even after Herod, Herod finds no reason to charge him, Pilate is still cowardly and Pilate will not release him. He lacks the courage to do what he knows is right. He's not a man of integrity, he has no principles. Certainly, obviously, not a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He lacks the courage to do what his conscience is screaming at him to do. Incidentally, all lost people have a conscience. Romans one says that the law of God is written on their hearts. They know they're given a God-given warning system to tell them when they sin. That conscience, not informed, won't operate right, only informed by the word of God, a knowledge of God's law. That conscience defiled and rejected over and over again will become seared, won't operate correctly, will become desensitized to sin so that you can sin and sin and sin not have a conscience that does what it's supposed to do which will warn you of your sinfulness. Here, Pilate's conscience is screaming at him to do what Pilate knows he should do. Herod himself here is just as sinfully unjust. Pilate does, or Herod does, the same thing that Pilate does. He shirks responsibility. He refuses to stand up for righteousness. Incidentally, on that day, and under those circumstances, Pilate and Herod become friends. What a terrible way to make friends, right? On the basis of their wickedness, on the basis of their guilt, they become friends. On the basis of their rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, they become friends. On the basis of their mutual refusal to take a stand for righteousness, to take a stand for justice, they become friends. On the basis of their mutual mocking of the Lord Jesus Christ, they become friends. Isn't that the way the world works? Right, isn't that the way the world works? This world has gathered itself together in a mob against Christianity. And you may have two people who are enemies in every other way, but become best of friends when they're standing opposed to the Lord Jesus Christ and his right to rule. For those of us in the church, we need to consider our friendships, right? Consider our friendships. Is that friendship based on a mutual resolve, a mutual determination to love the Lord your God, heart, soul, mind, and strength? Consider your friends, right? Is that a friendship that spurs you on to holiness, to progress in the faith? Listen, it's why the Lord saves us in community, right? Saves us to his body, his church, is because we're accountable to one another. We exhort one another, and more so, even as the day approaches, we are to exhort one another. We are our brother's keeper. We are to comfort one another, bear one another's burdens, pray for one another, paracletto, call one another to our side, right? We're to spur one another on, making sure that no one falls short of that rest, right? Do you, are your friendships doing that for you? Is it a friend, that friend that you have, do you think about that? Is that a friend that will come to you when you're in sin? Is it a friend that will hold you accountable? Lovingly confront you when you begin to fall away. Confront you with scripture, comfort you with scripture, bear your burden with you when you're in a trial, or are you friends because you're both weak? Because you're both weak, and you unknowingly comfort one another in the reality that neither one of you is pursuing the Lord, as you should. Is it an effort, like on the part of Pilate, and here it here, is it an effort to ease your conscience in the presence of someone else who compromises just like you do? Surround yourself with those who are like-minded in their rebellion. You surround yourself with people who are like-minded in their compromise, like-minded in their rejection. It's like muddy water, right? Sinking to the lowest spot together, right? Coagulating into the lowest point. Does that describe your friendships? Friendships in this world, friendships in this world, and even friendships among some professing Christians aren't marked, they're not characterized or defined by a shared commitment to Christ, but they are rather a shared rejection of Lord Jesus Christ. If that friend isn't helping you to run, then lay aside that weight and the sin which so easily ensnares you and run. Turn and charge them to run with you, but you run. This is a wicked friendship, a wicked friendship between Pilate and Herod here. So Pilate first attempts to evade responsibility to ease his guilty conscience, placate his conscience, first by sending Jesus to Herod. When that doesn't work, Pilate tries something else. Pilate attempts to implement the custom that's referred to in verse 39, like in John chapter 18, verse 39. Pilate says, but you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the king of the Jews? Now again, as we consider our text, if Pilate were a just man, if Pilate's primary concern was really justice, if Pilate were more concerned with truth, more concerned with righteousness, then Pilate would have simply said the word, set Jesus free and ended the whole matter. But, but, beginning of verse 39, Pilate is still trying to evade responsibility. He's still trying to evade what he knows he should do. His conscience still in battle with Him and he thinks to himself, I can still get out of this. I can still get out of it. I can still get my way here and avoid doing the right thing, which happens to be hard. I can still get out of this. It's an interesting first word at verse 39, the word, but. I find no fault in him at all, verse 38. But, I find no fault in him at all. And I'm not gonna release him, but. I'm not gonna do what I know I should do. I'm not gonna do what's right, but, although everyone knows here the right thing to do, considering the fact that I find no fault in him, I'm still going to attempt a compromise with the crowd. That's what's going on in verse 39. You can't compromise with unrighteousness. Can't compromise with sin. It doesn't matter how many are arrayed against you. We've seen that before, haven't we? It doesn't matter how many group themselves together in the mob. It doesn't matter how riotous they become. Stand for Christ. Stand for truth. Stand for righteousness. Have the courage to stand alone, if you must. But praise God when you're in the church, you're around brothers and sisters in Christ. Genuine brothers and sisters, you're not standing alone. You're standing with Christ, and you're standing there with Christ with one another. Stand for Christ. Here, he won't do it. He won't do it in verse 39. Two forms of pardon at that time were often used and used purely for nothing else but political advantage, right? One was called abolition, abolition. That was acquitting a prisoner before a trial. They had the right to acquit a prisoner before a trial called abolition. The other pardon that was often used was indulgencia. It was pardoning a convicted criminal. We're gonna see both in our text. One acquitting a prisoner before trial, and the other pardoning a convicted criminal. Since Pilate here's not yet rendered a final verdict on the Lord Jesus Christ, he believed that abolition here would allow him to sidestep the whole matter. The practice of this at Passover, the custom referred to in verse 39, was called the pascal amnesty. The pascal amnesty. Pilate uses it here in an attempt to be politically shrewd. Pilate thinks that by doing this, he's gonna gain favor with the crowd and they're gonna release Jesus Christ and get him out of this pickle. They've been for him all along and Pilate knows him, right? Shouting hosannas at the beginning of the week. But Pilate proves himself again, not to be politically shrewd, but to be politically inept and morally bankrupt. What he doesn't understand, what he doesn't understand is that while Pilate is going back and forth between the Jews outside and Jesus inside, while he's questioning Jesus outside, the Jewish leaders are at work in the crowd outside. And the Jewish leaders are stirring up the crowd. Not only that, not only that, but Pilate just can't help himself in verse 39 to antagonize them again. At the end of verse 39, he asks the question, do you therefore want me to release to you the king of the Jews? He uses that title again, knowing that it is antagonistic, it antagonizes the Jews. So the crowd now, having been turned by the Jewish leaders, cries out for blood. Now finally and eventually, the end of this battle, Pilate can't evade the situation any longer. He can't avoid it, powerless over his flesh, bent by his nature to choose sin over righteousness. Pilate rejects the Lord outright and hands him over, caves into his flesh, caves into the crowd, and he sends the Lord Jesus Christ to his death. Pilate rejects the Lord Jesus Christ. Pilate's not the only one. You also have in our text, the crowd. Point two on your notes, the crowd also rejects the Lord Jesus Christ. We see that in verse 40. Then, John records, they all cried again saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber. They all, at the beginning of verse 40, certainly includes the Jewish leaders, but here it includes the scribes, the Pharisees, also refers to the multitude now that's gathering together in the courtyard with them. This mob that's forming outside the Praetorium is representative of the world, the mob of this world. The world that hates him, specifically his own here who have now rejected him, the representative of this world that hates him. And while Pilate was talking with Jesus inside, chief priests were at work in the crowd. And they begin to, again, verse 40, crowd God's though. They begin to cry out, scream. It's a word that carries with it to the connotation of harshness, right? Harshness, they cry out harshly, scream harshly, not this man, but Barabbas. It's also a cry we know from the synoptics to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ. And we've talked about what Pilate knew. We've talked about what Pilate does with what he knows. What did the crowd know? What did the crowd know and what did the crowd do? Those in the crowd know who Jesus claims to be. And those in the crowd, knowing who Jesus claims to be, have every possible evidence necessary to conclude that Jesus Christ is who he claims to be. And just at the beginning of the week, flip back a couple of pages to John chapter 12, just at the beginning of the week, they attest to this fact in John chapter 12, beginning in verse 12, where John records that the next day, a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him and cried out, Hosanna, right? Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. Then Jesus in verse 14, when he found a young donkey sat on it as it is written, fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's cold. You understand that? That's fulfilled prophecy. That's fulfilled prophecy, written hundreds of years before this period of time. Verse 16, his disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done these things to him. Verse 17, therefore the people who were with him, when he called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. For this reason, the people also met him because they heard that he had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore said amongst themselves, you see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after him. So three years of ministry among the people, the people know the truth, the people know who he claims to be, they've seen the evidence. It says that many came to believe in him. They certainly know that he's an innocent man. Now the gospels don't tell us exactly what they were persuaded by in the crowd. All right, the Jewish leaders working the crowd, obviously their methods were successful, but it doesn't give us what they said. Certainly there were many in the crowd, those chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, there were many in the crowd who were filled with envy. We know that. And envy, what does envy give rise to? Envy gives rise to slander. And envy gives rise to lies. Envy gives rise to strife, to contention, to division, to discord. You can bet that's exactly what was going on in the crowd in the courtyard outside the praetorium. That slander spreads through the crowd and it's tasty to the wicked, isn't it? Slander, Proverbs 26 verse 22. The words of a tail bearer are like tasty trifles. They go down into the inmost body. Wicked love to suck up slander. Increased numbers of the crowd, the mob that's forming, those increased numbers have made them all the more insistent. In other words, a mob mentality is growing. Mob mentality takes over. The crowd is weak and vacillating. They're easily won over, fickle. They're easily persuaded. They're easily manipulated. They're at the beck of their leaders. They always have been. And both blind fall into the ditch. The crowd's not innocent here. They knew they were there to seek his death. And they declare that rather than God, Caesar is their king. So what does the crowd do with what they know? The crowd, like Pilate, they suppress the truth and their unrighteousness. Verse 40, they all cried again, saying not this man but Barabbas. And Barabbas was a robber. Listen to Matthew chapter 27 verse 22. Pilate said to them, what then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? They all said to him, the crowd said, let him be crucified. And the governor said, why? What evil has he done? They cried out all the more saying, let him be crucified. They don't answer him. They just keep crying out for blood. Luke chapter 23, listen to verse 21. They shouted again saying, crucify him, crucify him. Then Pilate said to them the third time, why? What evil has he done? I found no reason for death in him. I will therefore chastise him and let him go. But they were insistent. They demanded with loud voices that he be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed. And man in the form of the mob outside the Praetorium displays clearly who he really is. This is a display of the heart of man, the true nature of his heart, the true nature of his soul. Man here screams through the vocal cords of the mob, I will not have this man to rule over me. Crucify him and give us Barabbas. Both Pilate and the crowd and all men reject the Lord Jesus Christ. He is despised and rejected by men. If you're sitting here today and you've never turned from your sin to follow Christ with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, then you are a rebel of the mob. You're just like Barabbas. You're just like the crowd. You're just like Pilate. Your heart is full of the same vile defilement that has defiled them. And you might as well drive the nails in yourself and shout, crucify him, crucify him. I will not have that man to rule over me. I am the master of my fate, right? That's all people outside of Christ. The Bible describes them, diagnoses them that way. There's none who does good. There's none who understands. There's none, none who does righteousness. No, not one. We've all turned aside. It's interesting that at this point, both Pilate and the crowd, right? What Pilate knows, what Pilate does, we see what the crowd knows, we see what the crowd does. But at this point, both Pilate and the crowd do something absurdly foolish. Just almost unimaginably foolish. Look at Matthew chapter 27, after they sin, after they reject the Lord Jesus Christ outright and conduct themselves in their rebellion, seek to put them to death, they both, Pilate and the crowd, attempt to justify themselves in doing it. And they do that in different but very profound ways. Look at Matthew chapter 27 and drop down to verse 24. Verse 24, when Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water, washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. You see to it. Interesting there, you see to it, the very same words used of the scribes and Pharisees with Judas, when Judas showed remorse and he came back with his 30 pieces of silver, right? And he cast the 30 pieces of silver down before the scribes and Pharisees. What is that to us? They told Judas who was showing a pretense of remorse. You see to it. Here, Pilate washes his hands of the whole matter, says to the multitude, you see to it. Look at the crowd, verse 25. All the people answered and said, listen to this, his blood be on us and on our children. Then he released Barabbas to them. And when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. So one here, Pilate justifies himself by washing his hands of the whole ordeal, proclaims his own innocence, tries to justify himself with a useless ritual of ceremonially washing his hands of the whole matter. All the oceans of the world could not have removed Pilate's guilt. And yet he pretends, a pretense here, a presumption that he would with a little basin of water wash his hands of the whole matter. Only the guiltless lamb of God could have cleansed him, right? The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Pilate was sending him to his death. Pilate presumes to pronounce a verdict of innocence upon himself and Pilate can't do it. No man, no man can declare his own innocence. You are, as you sit here today, you are, if you're not in Christ through repentant faith, you are guilty. The verdict has been rendered. You are, as John says in John chapter three, condemned already. As you sit here, if you've not turned from your sin to trust Christ and trust yourself to him, to follow him, heart, soul, mind and strength, then you are guilty. Your sentence is death and you are merely awaiting execution. It is only by the grace and mercy of God that you're not dead already in hell serving your sentence. Turn from your sin. Trust Christ. All men must die and go to judgment. Where the Bible says that all cowards have their place in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. If you're like Pilate here, if you're like Pilate, then your conscience even now affirms that what I'm saying is true. You have sinned against the one who created you, the one who has given you breath, the one who has given you life. You have sinned and rebelled against your Creator and you have done that from your birth. Your conscience affirms it. The law of God on your heart affirms it. And yet all this time in your ignorance you have presumed to proclaim your own innocence, live your own life rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ. While you make, all the while, while you make plans for your sin, while you plan to plunge yourself into your sin, rather than obey the voice of your conscience and turn to Christ. Rather than listen to the claims of Jesus Christ over your life and turn to him in repentant faith. Turn from your self-will. Don't follow in the footsteps of Pilate here. Turn from your rebellion. Throw yourself at the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone can forgive you. He alone can pardon you. Your little self-justifications, your little rituals, right? Your little ceremonies are useless. Maybe that's why you're at church here today, right? Maybe this is a little ritual, a useless little ceremony that you perform week in and week out that you do to proclaim your own innocence. Maybe you're here trying to escape him. Escape his guilt rather than fleeing to him. You do that through your little religious rituals, your little religious ceremonies. You come to church to placate a guilty conscience, but you won't turn to the one who can cleanse your guilty conscience. You do it to silence and accusing conscience. The way the transgressor is hard. The way the transgressor is hard. And if you sitting here under the preaching of the word of God, knowing, knowing the truth, knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross to die for sinners, to pay the penalty that you rightly deserve, and you are fighting against that, what a miserable person you are, right? You can't evade responsibility for your sin. You can't evade guilt for your sin. I pray, I pray that your conscience will not allow you a moment of peace until you run to the Prince of Peace for true cleansing. Pilot here just attempts to justify himself washing his hands of the whole ordeal. The crowd, Matthew 27, the crowd also tries to justify themselves and it's brazen, so assured, so assured of the righteousness of their cause, right? So assured, they've got it right. They demean or diminish or belittle their guilt in the whole ordeal by making a brash statement in verse 25, his blood be upon us and upon our children. His blood means the guilt of his murder. The guilt of his murder be upon us and on our children. Things people say, right? Unbelievable. And then they impute that guilt to their own children. Blind rejection, reckless rejection, reckless words. So we see pilots rejection. We see the crowds rejection. What about here, the Lord's response? The Lord's response. Lord's response to all of this is gracious and merciful, is kind and compassionate. And we see it in the picture of the gospel that's given to us in verse 40. Where in John 18, verse 40, they all cried again saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Barabbas was a robber. History tells us that his full name was Jesus Barabbas. Bar Abba, Bar Abbas means a son of a father. So Jesus, a son of a father, is freed in the place of the Lord Jesus, the son of the father. Bar Abbas was a robber. So word, it's typically used at that time of a revolutionary. Not just someone who steals more than that, right? Revolutionary and insurrectionist. Literally one who sees his plunder. From the Roman perspective, he was a terrorist. He was a guerrilla. Crowds incited by the Jews demanded the release of a murderous insurrectionist already on death row. And they demanded the release of Barabbas in the place of Jesus. If you've never turned from your sins, you're on death row. You sit there condemned the wrath of God hanging over your head. You sit there condemned like Barabbas. And the Lord Jesus Christ holds out an offer to you to take your place, to take your place, to bear your guilt, to bear the penalty, do your sin. And that's the picture that's given here in verse 40. The guilty is set free and the guiltless is put to death, the just for the unjust. Barabbas, the real criminal acquitted, let go free. Jesus, the innocent and the guiltless is condemned and sentenced to death. So it is with the salvation of our souls. We're all by nature like Barabbas. We're all by nature like Pilate, like this mob. We all like Barabbas, deserve God's wrath. You deserve God's condemnation, God's punishment. And Barabbas, a wicked criminal, a murderer himself. Barabbas, a counted, righteous. Barabbas acquitted and set free. The Lord, who is perfectly innocent, has counted a sinner and nailed to a cross. He's punished as a sinner and put to death so that the Barabbas of this world who turn from their sin and put their faith and trust in Christ may live. Christ suffers, though he is guiltless, that we may be pardoned. And we are pardoned even though we're guilty because of what Christ has done for us. We're sinners, like Barabbas, yet counted righteous. Sinners counted righteous and Christ is righteous. The Christ is counted a sinner. We are all in the position of Barabbas outside of Christ. But blessed is that one who sees it. Blessed is that one who has eyes to see, and ears to hear, and heart to understand and perceive. Blessed is that one who turns from their sin to trust Christ alone. Blessed is that one who has Christ as his substitute. We were before Christ, all Pilate. We were all the mob. We were as Barabbas. And now, by the grace of God in Christ, sons and daughters of God. Amen. All glory be to the one who takes the place of sinners. Right? Takes the place of formerly the Barabbas of this world. Those going with the mob. Those fighting, compromising like Pilate and praise God for salvation. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we're thank you for this text. Thank you for what we see, what you've revealed to us here. Thank you for these accounts, Lord. And thank you, Lord, that in great grace and mercy to us, you pierce our hearts with the word of God. You, by your spirit, Lord, peel back the concrete layers of our self-justifications to reveal, Lord, who we truly are apart from Christ. I pray that there wouldn't be a single person here who doesn't see that, doesn't have that revealed. Then Lord, please show them their sin. I pray, Lord, there wouldn't be a single person here who by your grace and mercy to them leaves this place without turning from their sin to trust Christ alone for salvation. And we praise you, Lord, that you have made provision for our sin through the cross of your only begotten Son, our Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. We praise you and worship you for all eternity or that you have called us to yourself, caused us to be born again and applied the efficacy of that sacrifice to us that we might be saved and we might worship you for all eternity. We love you, Lord, and thank you for these glorious blessings, these glorious truths. We commit ourselves to you, Lord, to stand for that truth, to stand for that righteousness until you take us home. In Jesus' name, we pray these things. Amen.