 In John chapter 18, I'll begin at verse 28 and I'll read to verse 38 and we're getting to our study John Chapter 18 beginning at verse 28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium And it was early morning But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium lest they should be defiled But that they might eat the Passover Pilate then went out to them and said what accusation do you bring against this man? They answered and said to him if we were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him up to you Then Pilate said to them you take him judge him according to your law Therefore the Jews said to him it's not lawful for us to put anyone to death That the saint of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spoke signifying by what death he would die Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again called Jesus and said to him Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him. Are you speaking for yourself about this or did others tell you this concerning me? Pilate answered am I a Jew your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me What have you done? Jesus answered 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 am a king For this cause I was born and for this cause I've come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth Everyone who is of the truth Here's my voice Pilate said to him What is true? 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 And so I'll review for a moment and then we'll move into the portion of scripture before us We know that as we've gone through the gospel of john It's been made very evident that Jesus's enemies had desired to put him to death for some time They especially began to formulate Plans to put him to death When he had performed a particular miracle he had healed a paralytic Now the fact that he had healed the paralytic was Something that caused him problems, but it was even even worse to them because he had done so on the Sabbath What had compounded their anger one they think he's a Sabbath violator But two what compounded their anger was that he had called God His father and that enraged them even more we saw this in john 5 Because it says in verses 16 through 18 in john 5 For this reason the jews persecuted jesus and sought to kill him Because he had done these things on the Sabbath That jesus answered them my father has been working until now and i've been working Therefore the jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath But also said that god was his father making himself equal with god And so they wanted to put him to death They'd been wanting to put him to death for some time and the reason they wanted to put him to death is because one They believed that he was a Sabbath breaker And two they believed he was a blasphemer Because he called god his father in a particular sense making himself equal to god And so in their way of understanding that would have been blasphemy Now i use the word blasphemy, but people don't know what that word means anymore It's a word that at one time was used in religious circles And people would people would understand at least the concept of it But today people don't see the big deal of it I mean they use the name of the lord god in vain constantly all the time you hear his name used in vain There are words on television you cannot use there are certain words We all know that you don't use but the name of the lord is used in vain all the time Nobody has a problem with that and so they don't understand what the word blasphemy means The word blasphemy for those who might be interested it speaks of a disrespect that is shown Against the character of god It's an act of disrespect towards god. That's called blasphemy and under jewish law Blasphemy was what is called a capital offensive It would receive the death penalty and the old testament book of leviticus In leviticus 24 verse 16 listen to what it says The one who blasphemes the name of the lord shall surely be put to death All the congregation shall certainly stone him The alien as well as the native when he blasphemes the name Shall be put to death blasphemy was a very serious offense during the time of christ Well, jesus had said god is my father and had done so in a very personal sense So under ordinary circumstances this would make the person stating this worthy of death It's a blasphemous statement if it's not true Because they believe that jesus wasn't god's son And so they desired him to be executed now that belief That he had blasphemed became an obsession And it was the chief offense that drove them To arrest him and put him to death Now they've been seeking offense. They've been seeking an opportunity rather To put him to death for some time as we've gone through the gospel But later in his ministry jesus compounded that because remember with me how he raised Lazarus from the dead Now the result of that miracle was that many began to believe his claims And infuriated the leaders of the jews and the high priest had said jesus should die Now he wanted jesus to die for a simple reason He was concerned because many came to believe in jesus because of that resurrection And so in john 1153 it says from that day on they plotted to put him to death After he had raised Lazarus from the dead the plot began to be more intense Now they've been looking for opportunity And so finally one of his own trusted apostles Man by the name of judas betrayed him into the hands of the enemy In matthew 26 14 through 16 it says one of the 12 called judasus carriott Went to the chief priest and said what are you willing to give me If i deliver him to you And they gave him 30 pieces of silver Judas is carriott i've said this to you before but i'll say it very briefly for those who perhaps didn't know this or haven't heard this A lot of times when you see judas is carriott you think is carriott may be his last name I used to think that jesus was the first name and christ was the last name before i was saved So judas is carriott i thought judas was his first name is carriott was his last name Everybody's got a first and last name right so judas is carriott. That's not what that means judas is carriott Is judas ish carriott the word ish in hebrew his son of carriott was a village And so his name is really judas from the village of carriott and why is that significant? It's significant because he was the only one from the south Carriott was close to jerusalem the other 11 apostles were galleleans. They were from the north And so judas ish carriott ish carriott was a man from the south He was different. He had a different culture. He had a different way of seeing things It kind of helps us to understand how he moved in the direction that he ultimately did But judas was the one who who betrayed christ for 30 pieces of silver Now remember at the Passover supper Jesus told judas proceed with your plan And judas had left he received what is called a cohort a group of roman soldiers as well as temple officers And he went to the garden where jesus was and he betrayed him he entered in And the soldiers and the officers had arrested jesus As we went through that portion of scripture after yielding himself to arrest in the garden He first was sent to a man named annas and then he was sent on to kayafas annas was a former high priest and any any question jesus concerning his Disciples as well as his doctrine because he wanted to formulate a capital charge against the lord Now as he was questioning him these were illegal questions as self-incrimination. So as he did so jesus remained silent See he was unable to move jesus to self-incrimination. Therefore, he sent him to kayafas kayafas asked a direct question. It's found in matthew 2663. He said tell us if you are the christ the son of god That is self-incrimination. It was illegal But when jesus responded it enabled him to formulate the formal charge of blasphemy And we didn't look at this last time, but after that had happened jesus was brutalized In matthew 2667 and 68 it says they spat in his face and beat him Others struck him with the palms of their hands Same prophesied it was christ. Who's the one who struck you? And luke 2265 adds many other things they blasphemously spoke against him Now as we looked at that last time around the same time this was taking place peter was being interrogated And as we saw peter succumbed to the pressure he denied jesus three times And as we saw upon his third denial luke tells us that jesus was passing by he turned and he looked at him And this made him remember what jesus had said and it broke him And he wept bitterly A morning has arrived The religious leaders plotted to put jesus to death They bound him They led him away to a man by the name of poncious pilot in order that he might be tried And matthew tells us what happened just before jesus was delivered to pilot You see judas saw that that jesus had been condemned and And judas became remorseful for what he had done And so matthew 27 tells us that judas took the 30 pieces of silver back to the chief priests and the elders In matthew 27 verse 4 judas said i have sinned by betraying innocent blood And he threw down the money And so judas felt sorrow judas regretted What he had done But he wasn't repentant He was distressed But he wasn't repentant He only saw that he betrayed an innocent man He regretted that he had done so But the priests well, they didn't care they told them what is that to us you see to it And matthew 27 verse 5 tells us that judas threw down the money He departed And he went And he hanged himself Now the priest didn't take the money back Because they said this is the price of blood Instead what they did Is they used that money to buy what is called a potter's field A field that was used to bury strangers in The potter's field was where useless pots were discarded And it seems fitting that jesus's death was used to care for broken and useless vessels And that's where we pick up the story Jesus has been led from kyphus to the praetorium Verse 28 notice it says they they led jesus from kyphus to the praetorium It was early morning When you see the word praetorium it literally is the hall of judgment It some say that it was at pilot's house. It's around 6 a.m And they've led jesus to pilot's official residence Now in verse 28 it says they themselves did not go into the praetorium lest they should be defiled They wouldn't go in They wouldn't go in the dwelling place They could go into a courtyard, but they could not go and would not go into a dwelling place Why because gentiles use leaven And leaven resulted in ritual defilement and because it was Passover all of the homes are to have been cleansed of Of leaven so they wouldn't go in and you see defilement When you had defilement through this through leaven and all it would last you would be unclean for seven days That would eliminate them from continuing and concluding the celebration of Passover Now we already saw that they'd eat the Passover supper But the the Passover was longer than simply the days of the Passover to the eating of it and also included time afterwards So they wanted to be able to to um celebrate the entire Passover celebration And so they're pressing they're pressing for the death of jesus But they're concerned with defilement. I find that interesting. I'll talk about that for just a moment because As I look at this I think now let's see These people are wanting jesus christ dead They believe with all of their heart that he's worthy of death So they're pressing to have him put to death for the reasons that they have contrived And yet at the same time They're wanting to celebrate a religious feast And the hypocrisy of that don't you think is immense On the one hand we don't want to step into a house of a Gentile and thus become defiled And we can't conclude the celebration of Passover and all in the feast But on the other hand you're wanting to put somebody to death somebody who's innocent That you don't care for simply because you rejected his words And and I started thinking about that how how so much religious hypocrisy exists existed then But it's also a hypocrisy that exists today Um How do I how do I mean that well? We we have what they call christmas breaks You know here today. It's christmas breaks. They used to call it christmas breaks Now they call it like winter break or whatever because they don't want to associate it with christmas anymore Or you have easter You know and what do people do do they during christmas celebration and they take a break from school? You know do they on easter do they go to the beach down in florida just to To pray meditate and and love jesus Now what what what they do is they use the religious holidays and excuse to just To party and and to do the things that go along with partying They'll go to weddings. They'll go to a baptism and uh, they'll go to funeral And those become excuses for drinking and carrying on and all that's we we do the same thing to this day We still have those things happening to this day We we went one of the first way I think it may have been the first wedding we did as calvary chapel Um at that time it was calvary chapel ontario I just thought of that I was i'll give you an illustration of what i'm trying to say with the hypocrisy, you know We um I was given a bible study. It was a sunday morning I gave an invitation A week or two prior to this a lady who came one time to our church and didn't return Like so many came up to me And said to me You know, I'm from such and so church and the pastor gives invitations. I was wondering why you don't give one And I said, I know every single person in the room. There were only like 30 or 40 people I know everybody by name. I know they're dog and they're cat. I know everybody She says well, I was just wondering maybe you ought to give an invitation and I thought about it I thought well, maybe this is the lord So The next week You know same people as far as I could see we only had like I said around 40 people or so come into church Well the next week I gave an invitation And to my surprise a great amazement really somebody came up And stood right in front of me. I think did you make a mistake? But they came in front. I didn't recognize them. They had been invited by somebody So I prayed with her as a lady her name was tracy And uh I said, um, you know a few things to where afterwards we're visiting and she said this to me She said I have a boyfriend. His name is frankie Frankie is in oregon right now And he's not a believer What should I do? He's not a christian. I just became a christian. What should I do? And so I said to her with the bible teachers It wasn't politically correct. I guess but it's what the bible teaches I said share the gospel share what you know with him If he receives christ Then continue dating him If he doesn't you're not to be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever You're not to have a relationship with someone who doesn't know the lord You're gonna have to make a choice to follow christ Or to have frankie. It's up to you But that's what the bible teaches and she looks at me quite seriously And she she leaves The next week she comes back. She says let me tell you what happened She said I went home and I called my boyfriend up in oregon And I said frankie. I want to tell you something that happened today And frankie said to her Tracy before you tell me something. Let me tell you something. She goes, okay He said I went to church today And I got saved I gave my heart to the lord today And so wow how cool is that? And so he came home He started attending our church and about a year or so later I performed their wedding And so as I performed their wedding now I'm getting to the point I was going to make As I performed their wedding some of the relatives showed up And there was stashing beer hiding beer all over so they could party at the reception So for them we found it by the way, it was very it was very good. No, we found it We used it for communion. No, we found it And and and said, you know, you're gonna have to take this with you. This is a christian You know, this is these are christians man. We're not gonna party. We're not gonna bring dishonor On on the lord's name because they're celebrating who jesus is and we explained it to him They didn't like it, but that's the point I'm making is that it's easter. So what do you do? Well, we'll go to mom and dad's or grandma and grandpa's uncle's friends or whatever And we're just gonna drink and we're gonna get messed up. It's christmas. What are you gonna do? We're gonna party It's christmas, right? Now you go to a funeral somebody just died one of your friends you're relative. What are we gonna do? Well, you know, we're gonna just that's the hypocrisy. So it's not new That's not a new thing at all guys. That's something that was taking place They were plotting to put christ to death But they didn't want to go into the governor's house because they may have it may have leaven It may defile them They want to continue to celebrate the Passover and they are failing to understand that jesus christ is the lamb of god He is the Passover lamb. He is our Passover. They were rejecting that and in doing so They missed the whole point of what's taking place And so they didn't want to go in that they might eat the Passover Verse 29 pilot then went out to them and said what accusation do you bring Against this man? And they answered and said to him if you were not an evil doer, we would not have delivered him up to you And so what's your accusation? But notice in verse 30 how they answered that is what it's called a politically loaded charge He is what they called an evil doer. It's a political charge basically You see in luke were told in chapter 23 verse 2 They began to accuse him saying we found this fellow perverting the nation And forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar saying that he himself is christ a king So the charge really that they're bringing to the secular authority is a political one It is it is a a secular charge They're they're saying that he is guilty of what is called sedition undermining the authority of the government They're they're they said perverting the nation Forbidding to pay taxes because remember that conversation that jesus had is it is it is it right for us to pay taxes was the question Well show me one of your coins you remember that story show me one of your coins Whose name whose image and superscription whose name and whose image is honest Well Caesar render therefore into Caesar the things that are Caesar and then to god the things that are Blung to god right and so There is a big thing about sedition about undermining the roman authority and they're using that Because it's a capital offense in order to get jesus killed now When they're saying that he's that he's guilty of sedition That's obviously false and pilot would know that because he would have already have heard of this He would already have been dealing with them And so as they're saying that pilot is basically looking through this so verse 31 pilot said to them You take him judge him According to your law, therefore the jews said to him It's not lawful for us to put anyone to death That the saying of jesus might be fulfilled which he spoke signifying by what death he would die So this gets to the heart of it. It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death Pilot wasn't convinced that jesus was guilty of the charges. He put the responsibility upon them But when they said it's not lawful to put anyone to death, their hearts are revealed They're looking for an execution. They're not going to settle for anything less You see under roman authority the jews no longer had the power of the death penalty It was something that rom had to enact but the jews could not Now when it says in verse 32 that the saying of jesus might be fulfilled which he spoke signifying by what death he would die That is significant Because under jewish law Death would come through being stoned But under roman law death would come by crucifixion And so that results In the fulfillment of what jesus said concerning the manner of way he would die It resulted in crucifixion a roman form of execution Psalm 22 verses 16 and 17 is a psalm that is prophetic in how messiah dies In in psalm 22 verses 16 and 17 the psalm has said dogs have surrounded me The assembly of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet I can count all my bones. They look and stare at me When jesus was crucified He was placed on what we call a cross There are different ways to approach that crucifixion. We're going to be seeing it in detail Soon i won't give you that much information other than saying That the the romans had basically refined the The method of capital punishment To a point where it could be used to torture a prisoner For several days When you read ancient history You'll read about different people groups and One of the most vicious groups that is in recorded history were the assyrians Now you're familiar with the assyrians because It was to the assyrians that a reluctant prophet named Jonah was commanded to go He was supposed to go to a city a great city called Nineveh Which was a capital city and you remember how joy filled Jonah was When god told him to go so yeah, you know, I've always wanted to vacation in sunny Nineveh And so he just happened to go in the wrong direction He got in a boat eventually was thrown overboard a giant fish swallowed him up Spin him up on the seashore You know the digestive juices probably did a bit of a number on him He had seaweed around him. He made his way into the city of Nineveh He smelled like rot because what whatever was inside the fish's gut was on him And he says, you know yet 40 days and Nineveh is destroyed I mean, he didn't even want to really preach. He just gave a few words and that was it But what happens is the whole city the whole city Repents we know the story of Jonah But the reason he didn't want to go is because he hated the assyrians Because they were vicious because they would skin people alive Because they were vicious with their prisoners They hated the jews and the jews hated what the assyrians did to the jews And the assyrians had a form of capital punishment not even capital just a form of putting people to death That was brutal. They would take a small sapling They would cut it and it would be a A bit above the the height of a man They would cut it and then they would whittle it and sharpen the edge so that it was like a pencil Just picture a pencil standing on the eraser And that's what the tree would look like the sapling would look like and it would be sharpened They would get two of their biggest soldiers and the soldier would lift up the prisoner as high as they could and slam him On top of this post And they had gotten so good at it that the body they could be driven to about an inch or so below the heart And they would leave the prisoners squirming on this post And sometimes they'd be there many hours and sometimes more than a day or two Because they would wait for the pull of gravity To finally the point of that of that sapling for that that point to finally pierce the heart and very slowly It would pierce the prisoner Till he bled to death in great agony That was very common At that time the romans had taken that art of impaling And had actually made it something that you could stay on a On a cross for three or four days before you died And there are accounts of prisoners who took days to die and the account says and they died raving lunatics The pain had driven them crazy and they would be placed in prominent places So that when people were coming in and out of the city They would see these people suffering screaming dying in agony And it would be a warning to them This is going to happen to you if you violate roman law And so when john is saying that don't let that get past you When jesus had made statement how he was going to be lifted up He was going to be crucified That signified in verse 32 by what death he would die He was going to die at the hands of the gentiles through crucifixion He was not going to die in the jewish way of of capital punishment, which normally would have been stoning And so as this is taking place verse 33 Pilate entered the praetorium again Called jesus and said to him Are you the king of the jews? jesus answered him Are you speaking for yourself about this? Or did others tell you this concerning me? And pilot answered am i a jew? Your own nation and the chief priest have delivered you to me What have you done? jesus answered 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 Pilot 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 Everyone who is of the truth Here's my voice And pilot 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 So verse 33 pilot wants to determine what kind of king jesus is Are you a political king? What kind of king are you a messianic king? When he when he ascertains what kind of king he is what kind of kingdom he rules He's going to be able to make a decision should i continue this trial should i release him So that's why he interrogates him in that way So he asks them that question very simple question. Are you the king of the jews? Very simple question. Are you? well Jesus or other response Are you speaking for yourself on this? Are you curious about who i am on a personal level or did others tell you? Is this a result of your own curiosity? Have you been fed information concerning me? What's provoking the question? But notice what pilot does he makes it clear. This isn't an issue. I'm interested in i'm a governor not a priest What do i care? I'm a secular man I really don't care what makes you think that i'm interested That's why verse 35 when he says am i a jew, you know, i'm no priest. I'm a political man I don't care about your petty religious differences. You know, I don't even like being in this this This flea-bitten country I I I would rather be somewhere else and and you're asking me if I care and and anyway listen Your own nation and chief priest delivered you to me. What have you done? Just tell me so I can make some decisions here I'd like to know Let me know Well notice jesus's response 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 my kingdom Is not of this world my kingdom Is not modeled after the kingdoms Of the world My kingdom is spiritual in nature My kingdom does not draw its power from the world My kingdom does not model itself after the world system of authority If you were to call jesus's kingdom anything and it's been called this It would be called an upside down kingdom In matthew 23 verses 11 and 12 He who is greatest among you shall be your servant Whoever exalts himself will be humbled He who humbles himself Will be exalted You remember when jesus's cousins james and john and their mother salami came to jesus We have a request to make of you Grant that one of my sons sit on your right hand and the other on the left when you come into your kingdom And jesus begins to speak to them concerning that what it means He said that the the place of authority that you're asking for Is something that has already been determined by my father and he gives it to the one whom he wills to give it to You can't campaign for positions of authority. God makes that determination. My father makes that determination But jesus went on and to paraphrase a portion of matthew 20 that speaks concerning that jesus Jesus makes it clear that the kings of this this planet the kings of earth are dominators. They're tyrants They they like to be called great He said but that's not how it's supposed to be with you You're not to model yourself After the the way that this nation that this world functions Where were the great lorded over the small Were the important Treat the the peons as if they're not even worthy of standing in their shadows Where where the high and the mighty the rich and the famous get all the perks Where people can get positions based not on their qualifications but on their relations And so through nepotism somebody unqualified might get a position in some company Simply because the father or the mother can do good in some way for the company. So they hire the unqualified kid In order that they might be able to say this person works for us. We see that all the time it happens It's been happening forever. It's not something new. It happens all the time That's how the world system normally works That's how it works political systems can be the same The kingdoms of this age have a certain way that they perform their functions and certain things that they want and power Is what they want most and you be surprised at how much people want power There are things that are so petty when it relates to Through real power that that you and I thank god. We don't understand how petty these things are. I remember reading years ago a book that was written That um That spoke about the then president nixon How that president nixon would travel and he would have his two very important people Who would travel along with him and they would usually share the same room these two high level authorities They would share the same room with nixon. There would be three beds In one large room nixon's bed the president's bed was in the center. You won't believe what i'm going to tell you but it's true Chuck colson pointed this out in a book. I read by chuck holson many years ago And chuck holson would know because he was he was nixon's hatchet man He had inside knowledge before he got saved And colson eventually became a very strong believer in christ So he wrote a book and he was speaking about power And he said, you know what they had to do with these two high powered officials Both of them sleeping in the same room with the president This is the truth at least according to colson They had to bring somebody had to come in with the tape measure And they had to measure the distance between one bed And nixon's and then went on the other side of nixon's bed and measured For the other bed. They had to be exactly the same distance from the president Or else one would have been upset because he's a quarter of an inch closer to nixon than i am These are the guys who decide if we go to war That ought to scare you That kind of mentality has not evaporated You guys are normal. Thank god You're normal You don't see that But we can find our own little petty things that we think how come you're treating them better I mean from when you were a kid, you know your mom brings ice cream and she gives your brother a scoop And then she gives you a scoop and then you're there weighing it in your mind We're that way I did that one time We didn't get ice cream that much. It was a treat and when we got it we were happy But I still remember this I learned my lesson took one lesson with my mom I said, how come you gave frankie more ice cream than you gave me he has more My mom says, oh, you think he has more I said he has more She says okay, she took his bowl and mine threw it in the in the sink washed out the bowl She says neither one of you get anything I never did that again never did that again I was measuring it in my mind pettingness is part of the human sin nature And and power is something that we all want It was what eve wanted It was a power of knowledge to know between good and evil that was used in her So that she would stumble and yield to the deception of the enemy that the the the temptation of power through knowledge to have something That I gained That really was forbidden. It's something I want and We have a tendency all of us To want to go after the things like that and so the kingdoms of this world Are structured in such a way that the strong dominate the weak But jesus said that's not how it is the son of man didn't come to be served but to serve And to give his life for the ransom of many Greatness in the kingdom is when he takes a child and says this is your model You need to become like a child to enter into the kingdom of heaven Because the kings of this age Will do anything to dominate to press to rule And that's why jesus would say my kingdom is not modeled after neither does it take its power from the kingdoms of this world Pontius pilot you are a petty governor desiring more power And that's why you're treating me as if i'm of the same ilk and i'm not Because my kingdom is not modeled after this world. My kingdom follows different rules. My kingdom Has different priorities Romans 14 17 says the kingdom of god is not eating and drinking But righteousness and peace and joy In the holy spirit People wanted to make jesus king Remember when he fed the five thousand Remember all of them were fed to the to the point of just being so completely full And so john tells us that after that had taken place It's found in john 6 verse 15 That jesus knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force With drew again to a mountain by himself They wanted to make him the king Because he fed them he met a physical need for them But jesus says my kingdom is not of this world If it were of this world then my my My citizens Would would be fighting but it's not after this world And and we the church i think We the church especially today Need to remember that we belong to a different kingdom I think sometimes Sometimes we forget that I believe very strongly and i'll say this in this way and i'll say it briefly I think that because we live in a democracy at least that at one time was regarded as one Because we can vote that we should vote I believe very strongly that every one of us ought to vote every one of us who is eligible to should vote, of course We ought to vote our conscience We ought to look at whatever candidates running in whatever election whether it be a school board or whether it be a president and we ought to take into consideration that That men and women laid their lives down shed their blood So that I would have the ability to go and cast my vote in a ballot box I ought to respect that And I ought to take advantage of it when given opportunity And anybody who doesn't vote doesn't have a right to complain about the way things are going They don't and if they didn't take their time to vote and they come and tell me all you think it's terrible I say did you vote no on the other shut up? Stop whining Because you're part of the problem You're part of the problem. You have no right to complain You have no right. You did nothing. You didn't exercise your right so Just live with it But at the same time You don't elect righteousness See I I don't vote for a pastor Over the nation The president is not my pastor I don't expect him to be an evangelist either by the way. I don't I just hope That he does the right thing most of the time And I look at two flawed individuals And I look to see which one of those most closely lines up with the things that I see as most valuable And I vote that way Do I expect a perfect president? No Did I think that when Trump became a president our president that I was going to get suddenly some choir boy? No This guy's a new york businessman. He didn't make billions of dollars being nice He didn't make billions of dollars being kind So I didn't expect a kind nice pastor I just hoped he'd be better than the person that he was running against whom I did not vote for Because I didn't want that person in office. Is that simple? I didn't believe or trust regard or want that other person So I cast my vote. That's what I'll do this next time I like some of the things I've seen and I'm not going to go into political rant so you can breathe But I watch carefully I watch carefully and I vote but The kingdom that I am part of is not modeled after this world The kingdom that I'm part of is greater than any kingdom of this world Because I I say this and I don't say this Expecting any response from you other than this is how I truly feel about it because I don't have a president I have a king. I follow my king. That's what I do And Jesus Christ is my king And so I follow him. That's how it works, right? So when Pontius Pilate is speaking Are you a king then? You know, why would he ask that question because he's looking for a charge The charge has been leveled against christ that he is forbidding to pay taxes And that he's fomenting rebellion against Caesar against Rome He's trying to get the information as a governor so that he knows whether or not He's going to level charges that are worthy of of death. Is he seditious or isn't he? That's why he's asking the question and that's why Jesus said Um, are you asking of yourself or did somebody else tell you who am I a Jew? I'm not a priest. I'm not interested in religious things And that's how this is going and that's why he said Jesus said my kingdom verse 36 is end of this world It's not modeled after 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 verse 37 pilot therefore said to him, are you a king then? Jesus answered you say rightly that I am a king For this cause I was born For this cause I've come into the world That I should bear witness to the truth Everyone was of the truth Here's my voice Are you a king then verse 37? This may be sarcasm You're standing before me But you're a king But notice Jesus's answer you say rightly I'm a king And then he goes on for this cause I was born For this cause I was incarnated That I would rule as a world's king And I have come to bear witness when you see the word witness there in verse 37 I should bear witness you might find this interesting the word witness is the greek word marturus The word marturus is where you get the word martyr It's where you get the word martyr I have come to bear witness to martyr to give my life up for the truth I have come to rule not with legions And force But with truth that sets people free It's the truth of the gospel that will extend my rule over this planet It is by truth alone that I influence minds and govern the manners of my subjects I am not going to force them to bow their knees While on earth They will voluntarily do that when they hear the truth And when they bear witness to it when something within them rises up and says I sense this is absolutely true And I want to embrace it. I will hold fast to it and jesus says I've come to martyr I've come to give up my life I've come to bear witness of this truth to draw people to myself and he says everyone who's of the truth Here's my voice. There's something within them That responds when they hear That's how you got saved by the way Something inside of you rose up in appreciation Of what you heard when that gospel was preached Something inside of me when I heard the word Something inside of me rose up and said this is truth. I will embrace it. I will follow this one It's something inside of you and he said if you're of the truth, you hear his voice remember in john 847 Jesus said he who is of god hears god's word therefore you do not hear you are not of god In john 1027 my sheep hear my voice and I know them they follow me Because there's something inside of me that receives there's something in some inside somebody else that rejects So when he says that verse 38 notice this pilot said to him. What is truth? Wow There are books. There are whole libraries that are written about what is truth I've heard so many philosophies I have spent a lifetime in government service I know how politics work Where truth is simply what is convenience convenient at the moment I've heard how something simple can become twisted and complex by manipulation I've heard beliefs wielding power Ruling people and engaging in war. I've heard all of that I've seen how truth becomes a victim when agendas are being advanced You see government officials see truth in a variety of ways So I've heard so many philosophies over a lifetime What is truth? You see cynicism hardened his heart from hearing the claims of jesus christ For him truth didn't actually have a chance in a world like this But as christians we know that it is by truth That captives to lies are set free Because in john 832 jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free And john 1717 sanctify them by your truth your word is truth And so pilot What is truth? jesus said I am the way the truth and the life the truth was standing right in front of you You just didn't see him Well, when he had said this he went out again to the jews and said to them I find no fault in him at all You have a cousin Well, I'll leave that there. I just remembered i'm not going to go into verse 39 I'll do that next week I find no fault in him at all Last couple thoughts about that He refused personal responsibility To make a decision concerning jesus christ He had already said you take him you judge him according to your law But we need to remember that people are held responsible concerning How they view jesus christ remember how that when jesus was in a place called cesarea filipi how that he had said Who do men say that I the son of man am? And remember the response some say that you're Jeremiah Elijah Jeremiah Elijah john the baptist One of the prophets they gave him a variety of of answers But who do you say that I am? well Now we're at the christ the son of the living god See every one of us is influenced in one way or another as to who jesus christ is all of us have been influenced concerning What truth is It it depends on where you want to get your source of information and answers to such a question For for me as a believer i've discovered that truth Is the gospel i've discovered that truth is found in the word of god i've discovered that It's the word of god that when embraced by faith and acted upon transforms lives So when a man like Pontius pilot is saying what is truth the answer to that question is that standing right in front of you You just don't see it Well, he'd already said i don't even want to make a decision about this you you judge them and you you deal with it But he couldn't get away So he tried to find a way to be out of entanglement with him when he did that he said well you judge him and then He said i don't want to be accountable and therefore let's find a way to get out of this and But finally he he just rejected jesus's invitation to investigate him or Or close more closely So here's the closing thought don't close your heart to investigating the claims of jesus christ Again jesus said i am the way the truth in the life No man comes to the father but by me If you investigate his claims and you look at him You're going to discover that he is who he said he was seeus lewis one of the greatest minds That we've had in the church at least in recent history Was uh was raised as an atheist. He was tutored by a an irish Atheist from the time he was a little boy he was uh Less than eight or nine. I think when he had already learned five languages He was a brilliant man became an oxford don one of the great philosophers. He was actually a little literature professor But he was a very staunch atheist and I read his book surprised by joy many years ago back in 1975 And how it speaks of how he was raised in a certain way went to english boarding schools or went to boarding schools How that he had known all these languages how he had been trained an atheistic thought But that he said slowly but surely he moved from Atheism to what he called theism to the belief that there is a god He said and then one day he was in a taxi cab going from point a to point b. He was on his way to To a median of some sort or whatever and he said I climbed into that taxi cab A theist a believer that there's a god But I climbed out of that taxi cab a christian He said in between the time it took for me to enter in as a theist and to arrive at my destination In that short time The spirit of god convicted him and convinced him that jesus christ Is who jesus christ said he is And he wrote a book called surprise by joy, which I recommend if you guys like to read by c. S lewis Because he said and here's my closing he said I was So upset Over the fact that all of my atheism and then finally my theism Had been overcome By this great one named jesus christ He said I was dejected But then he said I was surprised by the joy that came when I finally yielded to who he is Surprised by joy Surprised at the joy of salvation And so You can fight and wrestle with god paunch's pilot did God was standing right in front of him. What is truth? You're looking at truth You're rejected because you're so callous Or what the world has lied to you for so long that you've embraced and believed When truth is saying did somebody else tell you this or are you asking of your own accord? Am I at you? I have no interest in you. What is true? Well, the answer is obvious truth is jesus christ the gospel of jesus christ That took him with his love all to the place where he embraced the cross and died for us that he endured what he did For us Because that's what truth does truth lays its life down so that we might be set free by that truth