Can you handle the truth?
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Last week we saw Peter’s three denials of Jesus. While that was going on, Jesus is being questioned.
12 So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him,
13 and led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.
Why this route?
14 Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people.
Some thought they were protecting the people.
Some knew the truth. The high ranking Jewish leader were more worried about their way of life changing. They secretly justified their actions but publicly claimed a moral right to commit acts of evil. Namely Murder.
DOES THAT SOUND FAMILIAR?
I’ve not said a lot about what’s going on in the middle east.
Many Christian Preacher that I follow and respect believe that the events that we have seen unfold in Israel have major end time implications.
I don’t know......
I do see the same Geo-political issues that we have seen our entire life with respect to Israel and the Palestinian people.
Ironically what I have heard this week is about people in the US protesting against Israel for conducting military operations in response to the attack carried out by Hamas.
Yet these same people give Hamas a complete pass on entering Israel and specifically targeting civilians.
19 The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching.
20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret.
21 “Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said.”
They would have needed two witnesses.
Remember the plan.....Jesus has to answer truthfully, He has to answer in a way that will not get him immediately killed, He has to answer in a way that won’t get him released.
He is a man without sin being questioned by people planning evil against Him. There seems to be some tone of Righteous Indignation. And I would add appropriately so.
John 18:22 (NASB95)
22 When He had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, “Is that the way You answer the high priest?”
Jesus doesn’t back down.
23 Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?”
A popular genre of videos online are the 1st amendment auditors.
See the unfortunate cop or security guard after telling these people they are going to jail when the senior officer tells them....There is nothing they can do.
24 So Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
John doesn’t give an account of Jesus before Caiaphas.
28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.
Palace where roman rule was carried out.
The Jews would have been unclean and had to go through a multi-day cleansing process.
They are will to conspire to commit murder, but not step foot in a Roman palace.
29 Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?”
30 They answered and said to him, “If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.”
Trust us....He’s bad.
31 So Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law.” The Jews said to him, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death,”
32 to fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die.
This is the second time we see God’s plan in the midst of the evil.
The first was when Jesus admonished Peter for cutting off the guys ear.
33 Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
34 Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?”
Jesus was no more intimidated by Pilot as he was the high priest.
35 Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?”
Assumption of guilt.
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”
Solid evidence that Jesus was not making a political challenge for Jewish leadership.
37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”
And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.
39 “But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews?”
40 So they cried out again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a robber.
What is truth?
What is truth?
Jesting.
Bitterness.
Sarcasm
Genuine question.
It is the question that matters.
What is truth......or What is True about God and the Word of God.
Neal DeGrasse Tyson- Astrophysicist.
If God is good, he can’t be all powerful, If God is all powerful, he can’t be all good.
So he rejects the notion of God.
If doesn’t matter what He believes.
It doesn’t matter what you believe.
What Matters is this. Is what you believe true?
Evidence for God
Evidence for Christ.
Evidence for what you believe about God, Jesus and the Bible.
“I’m divorcing my husband for another man because I believe God want’s me to be happy.”
“God made me gay and God doesn’t make mistakes, so it is ok to live a homosexual lifestyle.”
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,