John 19:1-12 (Teaching)

[0:00] Morning. Good morning. In John 19 this morning, we finished up John 18 last week, where the trial, albeit illegal trial of Jesus is underway, what we read in the Scriptures, and we wrapped up last week with Pilate leaving a choice with the people, telling them that at this time, at this feast, at the Passover, that it was customary for him to release a prison to them, or a prisoner to them.

[0:47] And of course we read that the people chose Barabbas. Now different gospel accounts have got different takes on exactly how that came to be, but regardless the people chose Barabbas, and much of that was due to the influence of the chief priests that were present.

[1:09] They were antagonizing. They were instigating a lot of things with the crowd, but regardless the people chose Barabbas, and the Scripture goes on to say Barabbas is a robber.

[1:25] Here in the Gospel of John chapter 18 and I told y'all in other gospel accounts we learned that he was an insurrectionist. He was a murderer. Many things going on at Barabbas, and I'm recapping all this for a reason, because John 19, where we're going to pick up this morning, this is Holy Ground.

[1:47] This is very intimate stuff as far as honestly as far as the core of the gospel goes, as far as the core of the gospel message goes.

[2:00] This is where in John's gospel much of the punishment that Christ took on your behalf and on my behalf is where a lot of it takes place.

[2:13] Now again in other gospel accounts we have different things going on at different times, but as far as the account of John's, as far as John's account goes, this is where much of the beating and mockery and things like that go on.

[2:31] We've read some of that, and in John 18 we read some of that going on. We know that Jesus was wrongfully arrested. We know that he's in trial right now. Actually Jesus in the same night went through two illegal trials within just a matter of hours of each other.

[2:50] We see much of the injustice going on throughout all this, but in John 19 we really read about some of the physical abuse that Jesus is taking from these people, but we must remember he's taking it willingly.

[3:14] Everything that we read here he is taking willingly. He was just as much God standing here before Pilate as he was when he was born all throughout his life and as he is now.

[3:25] He was just as much God here as he was and is and will continue to be in the future. He had the power to put it all to an end.

[3:37] He could have made it all cease when the buffeting began which is how it's described in Matthew's account which now in Matthew's account the buffeting was actually by the Jewish leaders.

[3:50] That wasn't even by the Roman soldiers. That was instigated and started with the Jewish leaders with the chief priests. They buffeted him and it says and others so I'm sure there were Romans, there were Gentiles there as well, but as far as all this goes, Christ had power to stop it all, but he did not.

[4:13] He did not and he did and he did not for your sake and for my sake and to fulfill the will of the Father. So all that being said, John 19 verse 1 then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him. Now this verse begins with then which puts us back to the previous verse which is the last verse of chapter 18. When is the then? Right after the people chose Barabbas. Right after the people chose Barabbas, the scripture says Barabbas was a robber, says then Pilate took, therefore took Jesus and scourged him. So everything that Christ is going through here was due to Barabbas and not only Barabbas, it was due to you and it was due to me, it was due to these soldiers, it was due to the chief priests, it was due to Pilate, it was due to Mary, the mother of Jesus, it was due to Peter, it was due to Paul, it was due to everyone.

[5:09] Everything that Christ goes through in these verses we're going to read here this morning, he was doing it on our behalf, he's doing it in our stead. We are the ones that deserved everything that he was going through. So then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him. What is it to scourge someone? You read different things from different people but if you look at a really Roman history and and the scourging that took place there, it was they would take whips, what we would commonly refer to as a catamnine tail. There's many, many strands on these whips and each strand was weighed down with lead, had lead on to weigh it down more but even worse than that there were either pieces of bone, pieces of glass, shards of pottery that were woven into this and it was designed so that when it struck across someone's backside it literally stripped them of their flesh and there were a couple different reasons for this. One was just to punish them.

[6:18] The Romans were very cruel in their punishment of prisoners, in their punishment of criminals and one reason was to punish them, yes, but another one scourging commonly took place for people that were going to be crucified and it would also weaken the people before the crucifixion. It would weaken them as far as their endurance goes, it would weaken them as far as blood loss goes so that they would die quicker but either way it was a cruel thing to have done to someone.

[6:56] Scourging was a horrible thing. As if this wasn't horrible enough, the crucifixion followed this, not only for Jesus but for many others before Jesus but the pallet took him and he scourged him.

[7:11] Now why would pallet have done this? This isn't what the religious leaders were asking for, they were asking for his death. Now scourging many times led to the death of the prisoner, led to the death of the criminal. Sometimes they would bleed to death, sometimes they would die because of the literally die of pain. Some of them actually if you read back in history not Bible but extra biblical texts, they would actually go raving mad over the scourging. They would literally go crazy because of the pain that was induced because of the scourging. It was a combination of the pain and the blood loss. You ain't got blood pumping up to your brain like you need to. That can drive a person mad. It can do all kinds of things mentally and physically to people here but regardless of any of that pallet delivered Jesus up to be scourged.

[8:10] Verse 2, and the soldiers planted a crown of thorns and put it on his head and they put on him a purple robe. Verse 3, it said, Hail, King of the Jews and they smote him with their hands. Back to verse 2. So remember verse 1, he's already been scourged. He delivered him to be scourged. It says, and the soldiers planted a crown of thorns and put it on his head and they put on him a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews and they smote him with their hands. They done this in mockery of Jesus Christ.

[8:46] They planted this crown of thorns and thorns would actually be symbolic of sin. It's symbolic of the fall. We read in Genesis in chapter 3 after God tells Eve, he says, you know, you and child delivery, it's going to be sorrowful when he tells Adam because you listened to the woman and you took the fruit, you're going to till the ground, you're going to work by the sweat of your brow. He says, and thorns and thistles are going to come to this ground because of the curse that God was laying upon it. So the thorns are symbolic of sin. All throughout the scripture, there's nothing good ever comes of thorns in the scripture. So they planted this crown of thorns and they placed it on his head and it says, and they put on him a purple robe. The purple robe being symbolic of royalty, but they were doing it in a mocking manner and they said, Hail, King of the Jews, folks, this was not true worship. They were giving him, they were mocking him, but not only were they mocking Jesus

[9:50] Christ, they were mocking the entire Jewish race of people. They were mocking the culture of Judaism. They were mocking the religion of Judaism and all of this, saying, this is the best king that you can bring us. Seriously, this would have been the Romans take on this. This is your king, Hail, King of the Jews. Put on him a robe. We read in Matthew's Gospel where they also gave him a read and a mocking type of way. As a royal scepter that the king would have would have hailed and then they took the read from them. They smote him with that in Matthew's Gospel. All of this was done in mockery, but not only of Christ, but of the entire Jewish race, culture and religion. It was all done in mockery of the Jews. They said, Hail, King of the Jews and they smote him with their hands.

[10:44] This wasn't the first time, as Avare said, that Christ was smote during all of this because the chief priests initiated that according to Matthew's Gospel before they even come before Pilate. They had already smote him once, so this was the second time around. Not only did they smite him though, not only did they beat him, not only were they mocking him and shaming him. Folks, they were spitting upon our Savior. We read about that in the accounts. Verse four, Pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you that you may know that I find no fault in him.

[11:21] So Pilate goes back before the people and he says, I bring him forth unto you that you might know that I find this man innocent. I don't find him guilty. I find no fault in him. In Luke's account of this entire of this entire ordeal that we're reading about here in John and Luke's account, there's at least four times that Pilate pronounces or insinuates that Jesus Christ is innocent. He's already done it once. We read about it last week in John in 18 where he said, I'll find no fault in him. And here's Pilate again saying he finds no fault in Christ, then why did he deliver him to be scourged? If he knew he was innocent, Pilate was in a political position. He was in a place of power. He was placed there by the Roman government and politics played a big part in all of this. Now you read some Bible commentators that will say Pilate was doing this, trying to appease the people and he may have been. He was and some people will say Pilate was actually trying to save Jesus from being crucified and he may have been doing that. But regardless of any of this and we'll read about here in the next few verses, regardless of what his intentions were, what Pilates were by having him scourged, by allowing him to be mobbed, by allowing him to be beat and then brought before the people a bloody mass, really.

[12:56] Regardless of his intentions with that, it did not rouse the people. It did not rouse the people in the way that Pilate may have been hoping that it did because they still screamed for his crucifixion.

[13:08] Anyway, Pilate therefore went again and sayeth unto them, sayeth unto the crowd, Behold, this word, behold, y'all have heard me teach on this word before. This means take a deep interest in this, pay deep attention to this. He says, Behold, I bring him forth to you that you may know that I find no fault in him. I bring him forth, in other words, I've scourged him. I've allowed these things to happen.

[13:37] He has been mocked, he's been shamed, but I find no fault in him. I haven't delivered him to be crucified, to be killed, as you all have requested. Now, like I said earlier, folks, scourging many times killed people. They could not, they could not endure that. People could not endure the pain, they could not endure the blood loss, and it would kill them.

[14:00] But Jesus came not to be scourged. He was scourged. Jesus came not to die that way, I should say. Jesus came to be crucified, and he knew the entire time that he was living his life here on this earth that that's what was going to happen. He knew before he came here that he would be crucified. This was, this was a fulfillment of prophecy in the Old Testament. We know from Isaiah 53 and 5 that he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and we know all these things from Isaiah 53, 5, and with his stripes we are healed. Jesus knew that those things were going to happen. He knew it before Isaiah ever wrote it.

[14:44] 500 years before this was going on, Christ knew he was going to be crucified. He knew the scourging wasn't going to be the end, but yet he endured it. And Pilate here says, I bring him before you.

[14:58] I bring him before you. This should have amazed the people. He hadn't, Jesus hadn't entered in at this point when Pilate says this, but this should have amazed the people that he survived the scourging.

[15:11] That he survived, survived the scourging that Pilate had allowed. Then Jesus came forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man. This is twice. Pilate has said, Behold, pay attention to this.

[15:28] Behold the man. And he wasn't lying. This was the man Jesus Christ. This was the man, the human being Jesus Christ, but he was still, still God. Standing here before these people. Jesus came forth wearing the crown of thorns. Now, you look back in once again, extra biblical texts, and Tertullian and Origen both hold that Christ was crucified with the crown of thorns still on his head. And I have no reason, there's nothing in scripture that makes me doubt that. There's no reason for any of us to doubt that, but he came before these people here, still wearing the crown of thorns, still wearing that robe, that purple robe that they put on him. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man. Pay attention to this man. Study this man. Deeply look at this man. I personally think that Pilate was trying to get away with not crucifying Jesus, and that he brought Jesus before these people in this condition, hoping that it would appeal to their hearts, hoping that they would, that they would have pity upon Jesus. But the chief priests wouldn't have it that way. The chief priests were instigators, and the chief priests riled the people up. And the chief priests are the very ones that started screaming, crucify him, and folks, it was a domino effect, and it's much the same way now. But even though Pilate may have been trying to save Jesus from being crucified here, because he found no fault in them, we've seen those words come out of Pilate's mouth twice, once in John 18, and once here in John 19. He found no fault in him. So maybe he was trying to save

[17:25] Christ from being crucified, but that did not affect the people. In all honesty, I mean, we look at this, and we read about this account, and we say, my goodness, why couldn't they look upon Jesus Christ and think to themselves, me being a man, you being a man or a woman, we being human beings, how could we want someone who is innocent, someone that we know is innocent, someone the very governor, Pilate, had declared as innocent, how could we want him crucified, and especially seeing him in the state that he was in here, bloodied, with blood dripping off of him, running out of him, pouring out of him, was spit all over him, with the evidence of a beating on him, with his back being raw, having the flesh stripped off of it.

[18:16] How could we want someone that was already in that shape and was innocent to be killed, other than maybe humanitarian, put him out of his misery? But how could we want that? The chief priest wanted it, and they again riled up the people to want it. When the chief priest therefore an officer saw him, they cried out saying, Crucify, crucify, when they saw him, Pilate has said twice, behold, behold this man, and when the chief priest beheld him, when they saw him, no pity came from them.

[18:57] They were in a political spot too, they didn't want to lose their power. Pilate was in a spot where if there was a riot that boiled up, he was going to be ousted out of his position, possibly killed because of it. But the chief priests were in the same spot, they didn't want to lose their power that they had over the Jewish people. They didn't want to lose the influence that they had over the Jewish people. So it says when the chief priest therefore an officer saw him, they cried out saying, Crucify him, crucify him, Pilate saith unto them, take ye him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him.

[19:40] I've seen numerous plays put on in churches to do with this, where when Pilate says take ye him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him, he says it to the Romans. That's not who he was talking to here. He was talking to the chief priests, they're the ones that were screaming, crucify him. In the context of this verse, he was not speaking to his soldiers, saying take him and crucify him.

[20:09] He was talking to the chief priests that were screaming for his crucifixion. Pilate knew good and well that they could not execute that sentencing with the Romans in power. Only Romans had that kind of authority and the Jews had actually already brought that up. They said, we can't kill him, that's why he's here. If he weren't a malefactor, we wouldn't have brought him to you. We read that, I believe it was last week. If he weren't a wrongdoer, we wouldn't be here bothering you. But he tells the Jews, you take him and you crucify him, knowing that they couldn't do it. That's one of the main reasons I believe that Pilate was trying, honestly, trying his best to keep from crucifying Jesus Christ. It's because he tells the Jews here, you take him and crucify him, knowing good and well that they could not do that under Roman power. They knew that only the Romans could do that. If the Jews were caught doing it, they would be seen as rising up against the Romans, taking the law into their own hands, we might phrase it nowadays, and then whatever Jews were involved in that would be arrested by the Romans and probably crucified. But

[21:31] Pilate says, take him and crucify him for I find no fault in him. Verse 7, the Jews answered him, we have a law and by our law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God. This was their answer. When Pilate told them you take him and you crucify him, I find no fault in him. They answered back, we have a law. That law didn't apply to Pilate.

[21:56] Pilate could have cared less about the law of the Jews. He could have cared less about the Old Testament. He could have cared less about the Ten Commandments. He couldn't have cared less about any of that. He was a pagan. He was a heathen. He was a Roman. He believed in multiple gods. He was polytheistic. All kinds of gods were in the religion of this man Pilate. He could not have cared less about the law of the Jews, but that was their answer. We have a law and by our law he ought to die. We talked about this a lesson or two ago that according to the Jews Christ had committed blasphemy by making himself the Son of God. What they said here, he had committed blasphemy and blasphemy according to the Old Testament, the book of Leviticus, that is punishable by death. All the congregation of Israel is supposed to stone one that blasphemes against God according to their law. According to our law, he should die. According to our law, he should die. He says he ought to die because he made himself the Son of

[23:08] God. Now Pilate knows. Pilate didn't know before. He didn't know what the charge against Christ was up to this point. Again I've already said it this morning we read last week. They said if he weren't a malefactor we would have never brought him to the church. Pilate had no clue what the charge was because they were so vague in their answer. Those of you that were here when we went over there but now he knows the charge because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying he was the more afraid. Well praise God and he should have been. When he heard that saying, now y'all keep in mind everything that's happening here. Some of the other things that have happened here. Some of the other things that have led up to this point that are not in John's Gospel. In Matthew's Gospel we have Pilate's wife sending word to him. Had nothing to do with that just man. She said I've been troubled all day long because of a dream that I've had. She's given him warning. Pilate's already said no fault in him. Multiple times he has said that. Multiple times he's insinuated it. He hasn't delivered him to be crucified yet which just further cements that he finds no fault in him and he's told the people he finds no fault in him. But when he heard the charge against Jesus Christ that he had made himself to be the Son of God and this was why the Jews had brought him.

[24:47] Again Pilate being a heathen and being polytheistic he would have known the stories of the Roman gods and their messengers. He would have known the stories of gods taking human form and the offspring of the gods taking human form and coming to earth and dwelling among men. He would have been very familiar with all this and that's why it says he was the more afraid because he thought there might just be something to this. He doesn't say he was the more sarcastic like he has been several times through this entire account over the past couple of Sundays we've been going through. Doesn't say he was the more determined to kill Jesus or to let him go. He says he was afraid. Why?

[25:39] Because he discovered the charge. I think Pilate was feeling conviction. I truly think Pilate was feeling convictions as he was the more afraid verse 9 and went again into the judgment hall and saith unto Jesus, whence art thou but Jesus gave him no answer. So Jesus Pilate has gone out to the people. He's told them to behold Christ has come out with the plaited crown of thorns on his head with the purple robe upon himself the people of Sainte-Croix and have screamed for his crucifixion that he freeze had and now at some point Pilate goes back into the judgment hall, Christ is back in there folks like I said last week or the week before this didn't just take place in 10, 15, 20 minutes. This was a drawn out process of all this going on. Again in church plays I'm sure we've all seen them and everything's condensed down and everything's kind of made to flow a little bit more so we're not all sitting there for 10 hours or wherever the case is. But this was a drawn out thing. We're back in the judgment hall and Pilate goes to Jesus and ask him where are you from?

[27:02] Christ is already told Pilate where he's from. We've already been over that. He said my kingdom is none of this world. If my kingdom was of this world my servants will be fighting. My servants will fight for me. He's already told Pilate that's why he was silent here. Pilate already knew the answer but he goes to Christ after he has heard that the charge against him was he made himself to be the son of God and says he was the more afraid he goes to Christ and says where are you from? From whence are you?

[27:41] It's how the scripture puts it. Whence art thou but Jesus gave him no answer. Jesus didn't need to give him an answer. He had already answered it earlier in this entire account in chapter 18. He had answered that question. Verse 10, then sayeth Pilate unto him, speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee and have power to release thee? So Pilate says to Jesus, speakest thou not unto me? Christ had spoken to him. Christ had given him soft rebuke. It wasn't even hard rebuke but he had given him soft rebuke in this account that we've been reading the past couple of Sundays. He says speakest thou not unto me? And then he says, knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee and have power to release thee? Yes, Christ knew that. Christ is about to address just how well he knew that. Remember in

[28:51] John chapter 2, y'all heard me talk about it many times throughout the Gospel of John. John chapter 2, there at the very end of that chapter says that Christ knows what's in the hearts of men. He knew what was in the heart of Pilate. He knew what was in the heart of these Roman soldiers. He knew what was in the heart of the chief priests. He knew what was in the heart of Peter, who fallen in the far off into the courtyard before when he was delivered to the chief priests. He knew what was in the heart of every individual.

[29:26] Again, Pilate said, knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee and I have power to release thee? He says, I can go either way here. I can release you or I can have you killed. Do you not understand that I had that kind of power? And Jesus answered, thou couldst have no power at all against me except that we're given the from above. Hallelujah. Christ puts Pilate in his place. And don't you think for one second that this didn't cause proverbial butterflies to come up in Pilate's stomach after he was the more afraid, after he learned the charge that was brought against Jesus Christ. He had said that he was the Son of God. He had made himself to be the Son of God. And here Jesus tells him, thou couldst have no power at all against me except that we're given the from above. Your power is given to you by God is what Jesus was telling Pilate here. And any power that is in place right now as far as the human plane is concerned, as far as our understanding is concerned, presidents, kings, queens, czars, monarchs, whatever the case is, anyone that has any type of power at all and is given unto them by

[30:49] God, and it is all given out that God's purpose can be worked out and that God's will can be worked out just as the power that Pilate had here to either crucify or to release Jesus Christ. Any type of power that Pilate had, it was for God's will and it was for God's purpose. It was for a divine purpose and a divine plan that was put into place before the foundations of the world were ever laid.

[31:20] Thou couldst have no power at all against me, as the words of Jesus Christ. And folks, this is a wonderful picture, just one little verse. This is a wonderful picture of the sovereignty of God. As I said at the beginning of this lesson, Christ could have put an end to this and caused it to cease at any point. Christ never even had to be arrested in the garden. He could have stopped it then or before then. He could have stopped any time between the garden and the palace. He could have stopped between the chief priests and Pontius Pilate. He could have put it into it at any point, but he did not. He did not. He was determined to fulfill the will of the Father. Thou could have just had no power at all against me, except that we're giving thee from above. Therefore, he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. Now, who is the he that he's talking about here? He that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. Well, first of all, before we get into who he's talking about me personally, I think it's Judas.

[32:27] But many others think that it's Caiaphas. Well, Caiaphas didn't really deliver Jesus. Caiaphas just kind of got rid of him. And when Anas both, said, send him on to Paul. But before we get into that, he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. Folks, sin is sin is sin is sin is sin. I agree 100% with that. Are there sins that are greater than other sins? According to this scripture there is.

[33:02] He that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. There is greater sin out there. And the Bible also backs up that there's greater punishments. There's greater punishments for certain sins than there are for other sins. You got, I mean James chapter three and verse one is a wonderful example of that. My brother and being not many masters knowing this that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

[33:33] Others might receive condemnation. Who will receive greater condemnation? So there is greater sin than other sins and there is greater condemnation. There is greater punishment. There's greater of everything. So when we hear people say, and I've actually used the expression myself, there's a special spot in hell for this or for that, it could very well be the case. It could very well be the case. It might be a few degrees hotter.

[34:02] There might be more things going on there for those people. That could very well be the case. Many people say that sarcastically. Many people that say that aren't even saved. But regardless, there is such a thing as greater sin. Now, does that mean that the liar gets a free pass as opposed to the murderer? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Is murder the greater sin than lying? Well, that's for God to determine. I'm not God. I can't make that determination. But all of it can be forgiven. I can tell you that 100%. All of it can be forgiven. And therefore, people don't have to suffer that greater condemnation or that greater judgment or that greater punishment because it can be forgiven. Christ took the lesser punishment and the greater punishment all upon himself. Christ took the full unadulterated unfiltered wrath of God upon himself. And this was just a taste of it. What we're reading here, the scourge, it was just a taste of it. The mockery was a taste of it. When he took this shame and this this shame upon himself when they were mocking him, making fun of him and his people, the Jews, that was your shame. That was my shame. That was your guilt. That was my guilty. He was guilty of nothing. He was guilty of nothing. And the Roman governor,

[35:33] Pontius Pilate, states it over and over, I find no fault in this man. And yet he delivered him. Yet he delivered him. And folks, that was the divine order and the divine providence of God that that happened. It was a fulfillment of Scripture that it happened. Verse 12, And from thence forth, Pilate sought to release him. Wait a minute, we didn't let's back back up to verse 11 again. I got so caught up in the greater sin thing. Who is the he that delivered Christ up up to Pilate? Now, I said in that immediate context, we would be talking about Caiaphas and Annas. They're the ones that shipped him on to Pilate are they not? They're the chief priests that said take him to the Roman governor, have him killed. But Judas is the one that betrayed. Judas is the one whose fate was sealed at this point. I mean, honestly, to be honest with ourselves, it was sealed. Could Judas have repented?

[36:42] Absolutely. Absolutely he could have. Was he going to? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. He wasn't going to. And God knew that he wasn't going to. Christ said in John 17 that he had not lost anyone that had been given him of the father, saved the son of perdition. He was already gone. And there was no turning back from that. He was, I guess we could consider that the reprobate mind that God has turned people over to. Did he have guilt about him? Of course he did.

[37:18] We know he went back to the chief priest. He went to those that he had sold Jesus in his whereabouts for 30 pieces of silver too. And he threw the money down. Done him no good. Done him no good.

[37:32] He had a worldly sorrow for what he'd done. And he knew that he was guilty. He knew that he had betrayed innocent blood. And we also know from that account that they took that money that Judas brought to him. They said this is blood money. We can't hang on to this. So they went out and they bought the potter's field for that money. But regardless of any of that, who was it? You can determine who it was all on your own. And I ain't going to fall out with you about it. But me personally, I believe it was Judas. He is the one that delivered Christ unto Pilate. He delivered him unto the chief priest. He delivered him.

[38:10] He allowed the whereabouts to be known of Christ. And they came and arrested him. And I said, you can say it was whoever you want to. I ain't going to argue with it about that. I would argue with you about it. But I personally think that it's Judas.

[38:24] Verse 12 will be done for this session. And from thence forth Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out saying, if thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

[38:41] So from this point, and folks, he had already been seeking it honestly. I mean, Pilate had. He'd done gone out before them several times. He'd done told them several times, I find no fault in this man.

[38:55] But it says from this forth Pilate sought to release him. But, it's a huge but here in this scripture. But, the Jews cried out saying, if thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Remember just a few verses ago, he had told the Jews, you take him and you crucify him, knowing good and well that they couldn't do that. But here, they turn it back around on him. They say, if you don't do this thing for us, we're just going to tell Caesar. And Caesar will have you ousted from your current position. And once again, chances are, Pontius Pilate would not have only been put in prison, he would have probably been killed if a riot had broken out. And that's where politics falls in to all of this. And these Jews are being just as political as Pontius Pilate was being here in John 19.

[39:58] It says from this forth Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out saying, if thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever make it themselves, a king speaketh against Caesar. In other words, you're taking more power into your hands than what Caesar would be pleased with.

[40:17] And we're going to tattle on you, Pontius Pilate, and tell Caesar that you're doing this thing. He's going to have you ousted and then you'll be imprisoned and possibly even killed.

[40:28] And that's where we're going to leave off this morning. But Pontius Pilate once again turned it around on the Jews saying you taken, you crucified. Jews knew that they couldn't do that. Pontius Pilate knew that they couldn't do that. The Jews tell Pontius Pilate, if you don't do this thing, you're going to be taken out of your position of power, which was really ironic and very hypocritical of the higher ranking Jews of the chief priests because that's the very thing that they tried to do. They tried to lose their power and their influence with the Jewish people. And Pilate would have been in fear of losing his power and influence with the Roman people and his power over the Jewish people. So anyway, we'll stop right there this morning. Anybody got any questions or comments on me?

[41:23] All right, God bless y'all. I appreciate you.