Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.onetwentysixfive.com/sermons/66486/john-1828-40-teaching/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Good morning. Back in the Gospel of John this morning, John chapter 18.

[0:10] I'd like to think that we can finish up John 18 this morning, but not positive that's going to happen. Thus far in John 18 we've read, of course, this being right after the high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ and John 17 and John 18 we see Christ cross over the brook and go into the garden with the disciples.

[0:38] We see the Romans and Jews alike come to arrest Jesus. We see the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.

[0:49] We've read about the betrayal of Jesus by Peter. That's exactly what that was when he denied Christ three times. So we've seen all kinds of things thus far in John chapter 18.

[1:04] We've seen Christ brought unto Caiaphas and that's actually where we're going to pick up this morning. We left off last week. We finished up verse 27, verse 28 is when Christ was brought before Pilate.

[1:21] So we'll just pick up there. That's the chapter condensed in a real small condensed nutshell there. So verse 28 in John chapter 18 says, didn't let they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment and it was early.

[1:40] And they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. So who is this they, first of all, that's being spoken of here says, didn't let they Jesus from Caiaphas to the hall of judgment.

[2:00] Well, this would have been the Jews and the guard that was with Jesus. But namely, we're talking about the Jews, the high priest, or the high priest servants and the Pharisees and the elite of the Jews here.

[2:17] That's specifically the they that we're speaking of here. And we know that because they would not enter in to the judgment hall because of fear of defilement.

[2:28] But folks, this is a very ironic thing that's going on here. The Jews, once again, the chief priests and the Pharisees and all these people, they were worried about ceremonial defilement that they would not be able to eat the Passover.

[2:49] Should they enter into the judgment hall or the Praetorium of Pontius Pilate, they were worried about again ceremonial defilement.

[2:59] They were worried about the outward things, but they had no problem condemning an innocent man. They had no problem with that whatsoever.

[3:09] And that's the irony in this entire entire verse here that we read is that that these these Jews were so bent on having Christ convicted.

[3:23] He was convicted in their minds. Now they were bringing the Roman government into the matter and trying to get them to convict him as well.

[3:34] They wanted the man put to death. They wanted Christ put to death and something else that's ironic about this is they were wanting him put to death for blasphemy.

[3:44] They considered Jesus Christ to be a blasphemer. Now you and I, we know that he wasn't, but they considered him to be a blasphemer. And the punishment for blasphemy in the Old Testament was death.

[3:59] It was being stoned to death. But here they're pushing, they're pushing for the death of Jesus Christ, not by stoning, which is what their own laws say, what the Word of God says, but by crucifixion.

[4:14] But they could not crucify. They couldn't kill anybody. Period. I'm getting a little ahead of myself in the text here. But just when we when we get to that point, just keep keep all this in mind that their law, the Word of God stated that a blasphemer should should be stoned to death.

[4:34] But they were pushing for crucifixion. Folks, this shows the sovereignty of God. It shows the sovereignty of God in a great way because it was predicted in the Old Testament that the Messiah would be crucified.

[4:48] Jesus Christ said it himself. In fact, in the Gospel of John, since we've been going through it for the past however long it's been a year and a half or so, Jesus said himself that he must be lifted up talking about his crucifixion.

[5:04] So it's been predicted that he would be crucified. And this is the sovereignty of God on display here. These people bringing Christ to Pontius Pilate to have him condemned.

[5:21] So again, they they would not enter the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. This was their concern with ceremonial defilement.

[5:32] Not the fact that they were putting or mourning an innocent man put to death. Verse 29, Pilate then went out unto them and said, What accusation bring ye against this man?

[5:46] Verse 30, they answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee. So Pilate goes out to these Jews and says, What charge are you bringing against him?

[6:01] Because Roman law stated that there could be no trial without a formal accusation. So Pilate wants to know what he's being accused of. And the answer that they give is very vague what they say here.

[6:15] They say they answered or the scripture says they answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee. And that's all they said.

[6:26] In other words, if he wasn't guilty, we wouldn't have him here. If he didn't deserve death, we wouldn't be asking for it. If he hadn't done something wrong, we wouldn't be standing here having this conversation with you, Pontius Pilate.

[6:40] That's what they were saying. But they would not get into any details of whatever accusations that it was that they were bringing against him.

[6:51] This tells me that although owned through this scripture, owned through the end of this chapter, chapter 18 in the Gospel of John, we see a lot of confusion from Pontius Pilate.

[7:04] We see a lot of politics involved in this as well. And there were politics. We talked about it last week, politics in the House of Caiaphas.

[7:16] And I told you all then the Annas in Caiaphas. It was a political thing with them. When they brought Jesus to them, they shipped him on, they shipped Christ on to Pilate.

[7:28] And there's a lot of politics involved in that. There's a lot of politics of what's going on here with Pontius Pilate as well. But when they answered, they said, if he weren't a malefactor, if he weren't a wrongdoer, we wouldn't have him here.

[7:41] It was vague and it was vague for a reason. This kind of tells me that they knew that Pontius Pilate would judge as rightly as he could.

[7:57] So as much as we might look down on Pontius Pilate, I think the man would have judged Christ had they given their actual accusation against him.

[8:07] He would have judged rightly. But folks, once again, this shows the sovereignty of God. This was going to happen. The gears were already turning. The gears have been turning for years and decades and centuries and thousands of years at this point because it was settled before the foundation of the world was ever laid that Jesus Christ would die for the sins of all of mankind.

[8:32] And the gears were turning here. It was going to happen. So when Paul went out and said, what accusation bring you against this man? When they answered the way that they did, we wouldn't have him here if he weren't a wrongdoer.

[8:45] That was purposely vague on the part of the Jews. And I believe it was purposely vague because they knew that Pontius Pilate would have judged rightly. Verse 31, then said Pilate unto them, take ye him and judge him according to your law.

[9:03] The Jews therefore said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death. So again, what I was talking about a little bit earlier, take him and judge him according to your law.

[9:14] The Jews knew that the death penalty was the sentencing and the judgment for someone that was being accused of blasphemy.

[9:27] They were very well aware of this, especially these chief priests and these Pharisees. They knew the law. They knew what it said up and down, but they just didn't understand or really care about the application of the law.

[9:41] What exactly the law meant. Again, they were more concerned with the outward things. And Jesus Christ, that's one of the reasons Jesus Christ came against the Pharisees so hard.

[9:53] You read in Matthew 23, Jesus Christ did not have very good things to say about the Pharisees throughout that entire time. In our chapter, this is where we find that he's talking to these people.

[10:05] He's talking to the religious elite and he's telling them that you're no better than whiteed sepulchre. On the outside, you're beautiful. On the outside, you're ornate.

[10:16] You're wonderful to look upon, but inside you're full of dead men's bones. These were the words that Christ had about these Pharisees. And Pilate tells them, take ye him and judge him according to your law.

[10:29] Pilate's immediately trying to wash his hands of this. He says, you know, I have no say in this. This is something between you all and him. And again, he's wondering what the charges against him.

[10:42] They gave him that vague answer that we were talking about. And Pilate's like, if y'all ain't going to answer me, I'm just going to turn him back over to you. Judge him according to your own laws. And they say it's not lawful for us to put a man to death.

[10:55] Well, folks, the Jews hated the Roman government. And on the flip side of that coin, the Roman government hated the Jews. It was a mutual hatred that they had for one another.

[11:09] So in all honesty, when Pilate said, judge him according to your laws, that should have been a cause to rejoice for the Jews. That a Roman ruler in Pontius Pilate's spot was giving them permission to exercise their own laws, exercise what the Old Testament taught in this matter or in any matter for that matter.

[11:34] That should have been cause for them to rejoice. But no, they pressed the Roman governor. They pressed him to continue on with this. They wanted Christ put to death.

[11:45] And again, as I've already said, the punishment for blasphemy was stoning to death. They wanted Christ crucified.

[11:56] They wanted him dead. And again, that just exhibits the sovereignty of God in all of this.

[12:06] So verse 32, that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die. That just corroborates what I just said.

[12:18] Why this happened? Why when Pontius Pilate said, take him and judge him according to your laws, and the Jews said it's unlawful for us to do this, unlawful for us to put a man to death.

[12:31] And scripture plainly says that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake signifying what death he should die, signifying the death of the crucifixion.

[12:44] So again, this is a sovereignty of God. And it shows the deity of Jesus Christ himself in that because Jesus predicted himself in what way he would die would be death by crucifixion.

[12:59] But in all of this, in all of this that we're reading here this morning, remember everything that's led up to this. Remember, I mean, everything for the past three plus years of the ministry of Jesus Christ.

[13:13] Yes, before that, yes, he was born of a virgin. Yes, he lived his entire life all the way up through his adolescence. And then when he began to be about 30, according to the Gospel of Luke, this is when his ministry began.

[13:28] So it had been a little over three years at this point that all these people had seen all these miracles. They'd heard all these teachings. They'd heard all the preachings. And even up to this very night that we are in right now, there was a miracle that was seen when Peter drew his sword and cut off the servant of the High Priest ear.

[13:49] Jesus, and we don't read about it in the Gospel of John, but in another Gospel account, Jesus healed that man's ear. So these people had seen the miracles of Jesus Christ.

[14:02] And yet they still wanted him dead. They still wanted him dead, even though he had been exhibiting to them for three years who he was and telling them, telling them outright who he was.

[14:16] They still wanted him dead. Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, Art thou the king of the Jews?

[14:30] Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself? Or did others tell it thee of me? So Pilate, after he goes out to the Jews, after he goes out to the chief priests and all these people and inquires of them, he goes back into the judgment hall, calls for Jesus Christ.

[14:49] Jesus comes, he says, Art thou the king of the Jews? Well, yes. As a matter of fact, Christ was and is the king of the Jews.

[15:01] Christ is king, period. Christ is king overall. But Pilate goes in and asks him this question. Why was Pilate asking this at this point after he had just told them, take him, judge him according to your laws?

[15:15] The Jews said, No, it's unlawful for us to put a man to death. Pilate goes back in and says, Art thou the king of the Jews? Pilate was wondering, Is this guy some kind of threat against the Roman government?

[15:28] If he's truly a king of some kind, is he truly a threat? Much like Barabbas that we read about at the end of this chapter in the very last verse of this chapter.

[15:39] Barabbas was an insurrectionist. Barabbas was a rebel against the Roman government. He was not only a robber, as the Gospel of John says, but he was also a murderer.

[15:49] He was a rebel. He was a riot insider. There was all kinds of things going on with Barabbas. So Pilate here would have wanted to know, is this man a threat?

[16:01] Not against me personally, but against the Roman government. Remember, that's who Pilate, that's who Pilate's boss was, was the Roman government. He was a little way down the ladder, the ladder as far as the government goes.

[16:14] But he was over this particular area and over this particular circumstance that we're reading about now. So he asked the question, are the other king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, say, sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it the of me?

[16:31] So Jesus turns it back around on Pilate and says, are you saying this because you feel convicted that I'm the king of the Jews?

[16:43] Or are you saying it because of hearsay? Because someone else has told you that I'm the king of the Jews? Are you saying this because you feel that way or because you've heard that that's what I am?

[16:55] Why are you asking me this question in other words? Pilate asked him, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus simply wanted to know, why are you asking me this question? Verse 35, Pilate answered, am I a Jew?

[17:09] Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto the men, unto me, what hast thou done?

[17:20] So again, Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Of course he was. He was a Gentile. He was a Roman. But he says, am I a Jew? Why did he say this?

[17:30] He won't, or Christ had just asked him, do you say that I'm king of the Jews? Is this something that you feel, are you convicted of this fact that I am indeed the king of the Jews?

[17:41] And Pilate says, am I a Jew? Thine own nation and chief priests have delivered thee unto me, what hast thou done? What have you done to cause them to do this, Pilate wants to know?

[17:55] First he says, am I a Jew? And of course the answer is no. But then he says, what have you done for your own people? Now Pilate would have had no clue about John chapter one.

[18:08] He says he came into his own, his own received him not. I had no clue about any of that at this point. All he knows is that the Jewish people have delivered up a Jewish man to be put to death.

[18:24] He says, what hast thou done? That's something that honestly the whole world could be asked that right now, including the church. What has Jesus done?

[18:37] What has he done? And I just named off a handful of things earlier. He'd worked miracles. He'd preached. He talked.

[18:47] He done good. He came to seek and save that which was lost. He came to help and to heal. He came to save lost man.

[19:00] What has Jesus done? Pilate asked the question here, what hast thou done? But he wanted to know, what have you done to be brought here?

[19:10] Christ had done nothing but good. That's all he had done. But his own, the Jewish elite, and we read about a crowd a little bit later, everybody wanted him dead.

[19:24] Everybody wanted him dead. Now according to other gospel accounts, when we get that far, the Pharisees and the chief priests stirred the crowd and got them to screaming for the crucifixion of Christ.

[19:40] And we know that when it come to that point from the scriptural account, that Pilate still saw nothing wrong with Jesus, still didn't know what he was guilty of.

[19:55] But yet they cried, Crucify him. Crucify him. His blood be upon us and upon our children. What sad words about that?

[20:08] What has thou done? Verse 36, Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews.

[20:20] But now is my kingdom not from hence. Now this would have rightfully confused Pilate. Remember, Pilate just got finished asking him, Are you the king of the Jews?

[20:33] And Jesus said, Do you think this, do you yourself think this or is it because of something someone has told you? Because of what these have told you or anybody else for that matter.

[20:44] Christ here, owning up to being the king. But he says, My kingdom is not of this world. And folks, to this very day, the kingdom of Christ is not of this world.

[20:58] Christ here and his kingdom for that matter, it wasn't concerned about military might. It wasn't concerned about or with political influence.

[21:14] Nothing along those lines. Christ's kingdom is here now. It was begun in this time. And it is here now by the work of Jesus Christ.

[21:28] And it spreads and it continues in the hearts of men. All the world over, y'all have heard me say many, many times, I've got brothers and sisters in Christ that wear turbans on their heads.

[21:42] I got brothers and sisters in Christ that ain't the same skin color as I am. I got brothers and sisters in Christ that don't know a lick of English. But nevertheless, they're brothers and sisters in Christ.

[21:54] They are part of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, which is not of this world. And Christ here said, If it were of this world, my servants would fight.

[22:05] But since it's not of this world, they're not fighting because that wasn't the concern. What the people wanted here.

[22:15] And again, when we get to the end of the chapter and we see them wanting Barabbas instead of Jesus Christ, what they wanted was something that was more immediate. They wanted something that was going to lift the oppressing foot of the Roman government up off of the Jews.

[22:33] They wanted something right then and right there to do that. That's the deliverance that they comprehended from the Old Testament Scriptures. They did not comprehend an eternal deliverance.

[22:47] They couldn't grasp that. Although it's all throughout the Old Testament, what they wanted was physical deliverance and not spiritual deliverance.

[22:58] So Christ says, If my kingdom was of this world, or my kingdom is not of this world, if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews?

[23:12] He says, If that was the case, if that was the concern here, was the immediate or an immediate physical kingdom for political purposes, for military purposes, for financial purposes, whatever the case is, because that's what Pontius Pilate would have understood.

[23:32] That was the greatest show of might for any kingdom in this time. And honestly, for any kingdom nowadays is the show of their military strength, to show how much they can destroy and how much they can overtake and how much they can overcome to increase their lands and to increase their people, to increase their money and their GDP and all these other things.

[23:57] That's how we understand kingdoms. Is it not? The folks, the kingdom of Christ is not that way. It is not of this world. It wasn't formed in the same way, and it doesn't continue in the same way, and it will not continue on into eternity in the same way.

[24:14] So Christ says, But now is my kingdom not from hint. It's not from here. He's telling Pilate here, really, what he's saying is, you don't have to worry about me taking your position.

[24:28] You don't have to worry. I'm no threat immediately against you or against the Roman government for that matter. That's exactly what he's telling Pilate in these words. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then?

[24:41] Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.

[24:56] So Pilate says, Are you a king? He's done, asked him once, Are you the king of the Jews? And he asked him here because Christ lay claim to a kingdom in his previous statement. He said, My kingdom is not of this world.

[25:09] So Pilate still confused, says, Art thou a king then? Art thou a king then? And Christ says, Thou sayest that I am a king.

[25:20] To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world. For what end? And for what cause? Well, the end part of this verse for one. But for the cause of being king, and to the end of being king, Christ is king, Christ has always been king.

[25:38] I can't stand it when I hear people say, Christ is not king yet. He hasn't been crowned yet. Folks, Christ is ruler. He is king. He is maker.

[25:48] He is master. He's over it all and always has been and always will be. I have no problem calling Christ king. I have no problem calling Christ Lord.

[25:59] He is king and Lord overall and always has been. He has always been. He is the ancient of days. He's been there from the beginning. He knows the beginning from the end.

[26:10] Christ is king. So again, Pilate says, they're asking him if he's a king then. And Christ says, Thou sayest I am a king.

[26:20] To this end was I born. And for this came I into the world. That I should bear witness unto the truth. Me, a king. I came into the world.

[26:33] To the end of being king. But I came into the world to bear witness to the truth. Now, we know from 1 John, Christ came to destroy the works of the devil.

[26:49] We know from Gospel accounts and from Paul's writings. He came to seek and say that which was lost. Christ Jesus according to what Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1.15.

[27:00] He says, this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation. The Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. We know why Christ came into the world. It was to save sinners.

[27:11] This is not contradictory to that. Not in the least is what Christ saying here contradictory. He says that I should bear witness unto the truth.

[27:21] What is the truth? Paul had asked that question here in just a little bit. Christ is the truth. But he came to bear the truth and to bear witness to the truth and to expose it the truth to explain the truth of God to the people.

[27:36] He came to show God in every one of his aspects and all of his nature. He came to show God to the people. He came to show the truth of God because the people had gotten such a misconstruence of whom God was.

[27:53] And so at the perfect time, God sent his son into the world. He was born of a virgin, born of a manger in Bethlehem, lived his life, lived the perfect sinless life.

[28:04] We all know the accounts and it comes to this point here. He's sitting here with a Roman ruler saying, I came to bear witness to the truth.

[28:16] And this was the end to which he came. I came to bear witness under the truth. Everyone that is of the truth, heareth my voice. Praise God.

[28:27] This is no different than what he said a few chapters back when he said, my sheep, heareth my voice and know me. Everyone that hears the truth is of this kingdom that I'm speaking to you about right now.

[28:40] And if they are of the kingdom, they are under my kingship. They're my people. This would be the servants he was talking about just a couple of verses ago when he said, if my kingdom was of this world, my servants would fight that I wouldn't be delivered unto you.

[28:57] But everybody, everyone that is of the truth, heareth my voice. Praise God. Verse 38, Pilate said unto him, what is true?

[29:11] And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. So he has crossed the question, what is true?

[29:24] This is a very philosophical question. I'm sure in Pilate's mind it was a very deep question. It was very philosophical, but he doesn't wait for an answer.

[29:34] He goes on out to the Jews. He says, I find no fault in this man. Even though he had asked the question, he said, are you a king? Christ said, my kingdom is not of this world.

[29:47] Christ said, if it were of this world, my servants would fight for me and I wouldn't be here talking to you right now. Basically, Christ was telling Pilate, and Pilate asked him the question.

[29:59] After Christ says, those that are of the truth, hear my voice. They know who I am. They're mine. These are my servants.

[30:09] These are my people. And Pilate asked the question, what is truth? And the truth was sitting right there or standing right there with him. Jesus said in John 14.6, I am the way of the truth and the life.

[30:22] Truth was right there, embodied standing before Pilate, standing before this Roman ruler. And yet he asked the question, what is truth?

[30:35] He was looking for Pilate. Pilate's version of truth is much like the world has now. I just got through talking about how the world sees kingdoms.

[30:46] And really, we're seeing displayed here in these verses two different kingdoms. We've got kingdoms, plural of darkness, which was not only Rome, but all the world.

[31:01] But in this particular case, it was Rome. We've got the kingdom of darkness and we have the kingdom of light, all displayed right here. Christ, of course, being a king of that kingdom of light.

[31:16] But Pilate asked the question, what is truth? And I asked you all that this morning. And we can ask the world over, what is truth?

[31:26] And you'll get all kinds of different answers. God is truth. Christ is truth. This word is truth. The things of God are truth.

[31:39] This is truth. But the world, along with Pontius Pilate, the Pontius Pilate, along with the rest of the world, however you'd rather phrase that, that's not truth to them.

[31:50] They don't comprehend that truth. And why is that? Christ just said it. Those that know the truth, those that are of the truth, they hear me. He said, everyone that is of the truth hear that, my voice.

[32:06] That's why they don't understand it, because they're not of the truth. And it's hard to comprehend that, folks. And once again, that displays the sovereignty of God, it displays the sovereignty of God in salvation.

[32:23] For I was saved, I had no interest in God, had no interest in the Bible, had no interest in Christ, or being saved for that matter. But when I became part of the Kingdom of Light, when I became part of the Gospel Kingdom, when God saved my soul, and it was all God had nothing to do with me, when God saved me, then I became a member of the Kingdom of Truth and the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of the Gospel.

[32:50] So what is truth? Ask anybody who'll get a different answer to that. But folks, truth, the truth is in God, period.

[33:01] End of discussion. God is truth. Christ is truth. When he had said this, he went out again under the Jews and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

[33:13] No fault at all. Even though Christ had answered his questions, he had answered them obviously satisfactorily. Pontius Pilate was ready to cut the man loose.

[33:24] Said, there's nothing wrong here. Still wondering, why have they brought you to me? You've done nothing wrong. I find in you no fault. You've not killed anybody. You've not stolen anything.

[33:35] You're not a rebel against the government. I mean Pontius, Pontius, that was his main concern. Pontius Pilate, his main concern was, is this man a threat to Rome?

[33:47] And he said, I find in him no fault at all. Verse 39, But ye have a custom that I should release unto you, want it to pass over.

[33:58] Will ye therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews? Ye have a custom. This custom really, other than the gospel accounts, that's the only place I can really find a whole lot of information about this custom of releasing a prisoner to the Jews.

[34:16] But my opinion, not scripture, but my opinion, is this is how the big crowd gathered, the cause it was a custom. Because evidently, Passover time comes, and it's left up to the people what prisoner is released to them.

[34:36] So we've gone from a few Roman soldiers and the chief priests and some of the Pharisees, and we go to an enormous crowd of people screaming crucify.

[34:47] And once again, me personally, I believe it's because this crowd had gathered and they were also stirred. I understand that. They were probably rallied to that point.

[34:57] The folks, this didn't just all happen within 20 or 30 minutes. We got to remember Cross had his last supper with the disciples. Then he and he and we went through chapters of the farewell discourse of Jesus Christ.

[35:14] And we saw it from chapter 15 on through chapter 17 because the high priestly prayer of Christ is also considered part of the farewell discourse. Now here we are chapter 18.

[35:27] I don't know how many hours it was. All I know is they came in the middle of the night and I know it was the middle of the night to arrest Jesus because they said they had torches with them. They wouldn't have needed torches at daytime.

[35:37] So it was the wee hours of the morning when they came to arrest Jesus. It was nine o'clock in the morning when they initially crucified him. So there was a few hours that took place here.

[35:49] When it says that they took him from Caiaphas at the beginning of this passage, they took him from Caiaphas to Pontius Pilate. That was about a half a mile's walk or a half a kilometer's walk from one place to the other.

[36:03] That would have took him at least probably 20 minutes. But it didn't just all happen. Bam, bam, bam, bam. This was a dragged out thing and a give time for a crowd to gather to scream for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

[36:17] You have accustomed us to release. So do you want to pass over? Will you therefore release under you the king of the Jews? He's saying, do you want this man? Jesus, do you want your king?

[36:28] Verse 40, then cried they all again saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber, not this man, not this innocent one, not this one that no one, that everyone knows he's really done nothing wrong.

[36:48] Now granted, those higher up Jews, they thought he was a blasphemer because he was claiming to be the Son of God. He was the Son of God and he had proved to them that he was the Son of God.

[37:00] He had proved through miracles that he performed. He had proved it through prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He had proved it over and over and over and yet they called him a blasphemer.

[37:13] They cried all again, say, not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber. And as I said earlier, he was not only a robber, he was a rebel. He was an insider and he was a murderer, according to the Gospel of Mark.

[37:28] There's all kinds of things, but folks, they would rather have this rebel as opposed to having the Prince of Peace, as opposed to having the one who came to save them.

[37:42] And they were incited to that. And folks are still incited to those things. Go back to the question that was asked. What is truth when Pontius Pilate asked the question, what is truth?

[37:55] And people give you all kinds of different answers as to what the truth is. And then when you present them with the truth, they'll do just as the people in John 18 and verse 40 said, I don't want that.

[38:08] I want something else. I want something that's going to benefit me. That's what the Jews thought. They thought Barabbas, because he was a rebel against the Roman government, get him out and maybe he can get his wills turning again and get an even bigger rebellion stirred up against Rome.

[38:25] We'll get their foot up off our back because this Jesus ain't going to do it. That was the thought of the Jews. So anyway, that brings us to the end of chapter 18. Anybody got any questions or comments on any of that?

[38:39]  All right, God bless you all. I appreciate you.