Jesus before Pilate

INTRODUCTION

Today we are faced with a situation where the ONLY PERFECT person

that this world has EVER KNOWN

is Going to be sentenced to Hang on a Cross of Wood

because of the failings of Man.

We will face a few challenges in this message:

Jesus Innocence

Evilness of Man

God facing trial

God’s Will

A Court not bold enough to enforce the RIGHT THING

There is likely a thought process that goes on inside you,

whereas it simply is NOT RIGHT

and maybe even IT DOESN’T Make SENSE

What did Jesus do that deserved DEATH?

Jesus lived a life that was DESIGNED for OTHERS

from the BEGINNING

He was Good,

full of

LOVE, KINDNESS, PURENESS, and Full of INTEGRITY

YET He is going through something that NO ONE HERE wants to EXPERIENCE

To BE false accused.

Our minds would scream out

I DIDN’T DO IT

LET ME DEFEND MYSELF --- HEAR MY REASONS

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Many years ago an attorney friend told me:

You people who are full of more good than bad

You believe that you can simply POUR out

a BUCKET of Truth on a Table

and the TRUTH will set you FREE

Yet the TRUTH is that an opposing force, The Other Side

will come in and TWIST any of the TRUTH

that they can to GET what they want

He TOLD me the Mission in a Court Room is not RIGHT or WRONG, or Even

GUILT OR INNOCENCE

IT is about WINNING YOUR CASE, Massaging the Facts to WIN

He TOLD me it is not totally about Winning BUT RATHER NOT LOSING

SETTLING IT — PASSING THE BUCK

IF any thing may come out of our message today

I pray it is UNDERSTANDING

that the

WAY OF GOD

IS NOT THE WAY OF THE WORLD.

The Parties

As we examine the scene today we should investigate at least three parties

PHARISEES

PEOPLE

PILATE

If we look at the situation of a innocent perfect Man —God in Human Form

We see that we could learn a few things:

The Pharisees are the religious — the ones that should know the TRUTH -the ones that should be fighting for RIGHT

We have the People — who as Jesus has stated are like sheep — here they are being led by evil hearted shepherds

We have Pilate representing the WORLD --- the person in power, NOT a religious person, much like a person today who doesn’t care about God, only their station in the world

The Pharisees Plotted

The People blindly follow

and Pilate ------Placates

and washes his hands

The PLOT

The Jewish Leader are once again leaning

on their Religion to Protect their Ways

We have the Passover Timing

Even in their desire to do Evil

the Pharisee seek to follow parts of the Law that they LIKE

they will not enter the Home of a Gentile --- PILATE

so NOT to defile themselves for PASSOVER

CRAZY ISN’T IT

They are seeking to have a Man Killed and they will proceed with that DESIRE

BUT they want to PROTECT THERE OUTSIDE from Being DEFILED

God knows our Heart

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THE HEARTS OF MAN are DECEITFULLY WICKED

THEY SEEK THEIR OUTSIDE APPEARANCE, when THERE VERY SOUL IS TAINTED BLACK

Mark 7:20–23 (ESV)

20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.

21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Luke 6:45 (ESV)

45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good,

and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil,

for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

So the Plot appears to be centered on the Jewish Leaders

For many hundreds of years the Question has arisen ---

Who killed Jesus?

If you were a Police Detective assigned to this case

HOW WOULD YOU PROCESS THAT QUESTION?

If you were looking to get the conviction and close your case

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

Is it Pilate?

Pilate had the power to convict, or prevent injustice, but Pilate refuses to

Pilate passes the Buck - Washes His Hands and walks away

Is it the Jews?

I think here we look at the Leaders and the People

The Leaders --- they wanted Jesus to Die, the High Priest was looking to Lead that Charge

The People --- Blindly following their leaders, their religion and believing what they are told to believe --- to the point of working themselves into a frenzied mob mentality

Last week i told you Caiaphas --- Said better one man should die for the people,

So religious that Caiaphas desired to assert his will in helping out

To kill Jesus so that the nation would be gathered as one --- read John 11:49-53

Amazing to day we know the Gospel — We know the Truth.

I ask you to look at a third scenario --- the tough one

BUT it is the TRUTH

Jesus Died for US --- because of US --- to solve the curse of sin forever

So who killed Jesus?

Is a tough question!

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But if we change the question and look at a different angle

We could ask WHY DID JESUS DIE?

We must conclude a simple answer

1. For US

OUR NEED OF REDEMPTION

— OUR NEED OF GRACE ---

OUR NEED OF THE PERFECT SACRIFICE

Romans 5:8 (ESV)

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

2.For the Will of God

Jesus only did the will of His Father --- He completely followed GOD

Jesus became a man, and then took on the form of a servant

Philippians 2:5–8 (ESV)

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Who killed Jesus?

This question appears to have us focus on our own understanding

Why did Jesus have to DIE?

to OBEY the Will of God

Our true answer comes from knowing the GOOD NEWS

KNOWING THE GOSPEL

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Here in our Scripture today we see Jesus lead to Pilate

to face Roman Rule

the Jewish Leaders are seeking

to get approval through manipulation of the Law of the World

Jewish Law would have the ability to Stone Jesus to death

so they could have killed Jesus that way

We need to put weight on the POWER OF GOD’S WORD

The Power of GOD DOING EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID

Let me show you something super important.

Make a note of Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53 (ESV)

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Deuteronomy 21:23 (ESV)

23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

in traditional Jewish law, a person could be sentenced to death by a majority vote of a Sanhedrin, or 23 judges, in a trial.

The judges would only sentence someone to death if there were at least two witnesses who testified that they saw the person commit the offense.

There were four types of capital punishment in Jewish law:

stoning, burning by ingesting molten lead, strangling, and beheading

The Bible doesn’t say, “Cursed is everyone who is stoned.”

It says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”

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It seems right to point out that i didn’t mention

That SATAN killed Jesus

Have you thought about that?

Satan could not Kill Jesus — he tried when Jesus was a baby

But a great message for another time

Satan needed to use Man to attempt to Manipulate

Satan sought to WIN through Manipulation BUT God Won because of Love

The Jews had a motivation and it was to manipulate God’s Word for THEIR own motivations

Pilate was motivated to stay in Power and not have an uprising.

The people followed blindly like Lambs going astray.

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Friends so many Scriptures can lead to sermon message after sermon message

There is so much to talk about in this section

My heart in prayer lead me to this today.

Why did Jesus have to Die?

He had to DIE:

Because it was God’s plan from the beginning

Because God prophesied it

Because it was God’s Love for us

John 3:16 (ESV)

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,

that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Let us make certain in each one of our lives that we remember this

God loves you so much

that Jesus went through all of this for YOU

Why did Jesus DIE?

For YOU

Lets pray