Sermon Tone Analysis

We have been in a series through the gospel of Luke that I have called Encounter with The Innocent.

Through out Jesus’ 3 1/2 year ministry many people have encountered Jesus.

His encounter with these people has left an unforgettable mark not only on those people but on the religious leaders and also now on the civil leaders as well.

The Encounter with The Innocent One always demands a response.

The religious leaders in their encounter with the Innocent One found that their sin was exposed.

Pilate’s encounter left him confused and indifferent.

Herod’s encounter left him misguided, manipulated and with a malicious demeanor toward Jesus.

A person who encounters the true Jesus never walks away without being affected by the encounter whether positive or negative.

There is never a sitting on the fence when it comes to an encounter with Jesus.

You will either believe the truth of who He is or you will believe the lie the world is spewing.

Now when the evidence of the true Jesus is before you what is your verdict of who He is?

Is He just a sage, a great moral teacher?

Is He a rebel who stirred up trouble for the Roman Empire?

Is He a myth in the way of Greek and Roman Mythology?

Is He a man, or is He a God, or is He the God who took on flesh?

Is He sinless or was He able to sin?

Your verdict on who Jesus is says a lot about what you think of Him and it is says a lot about what influences your thinking.

This morning we will see Pilates verdict concerning Jesus based on Pilates examination of the evidence.

We will see this in Luke 23:13-25, Luke 23:13-25

Now we have seen the religious leaders have convicted Jesus of blasphemy and they want Jesus killed but they don’t want to do it themselves because they are afraid of the backlash that will be caused by the people.

So they bring Jesus before Pilate the governor of the region.

As they bring Him before Pilate they also accuse Jesus of causing a stir in the nation of Isreal against the Roman Empire.

Pilate sees right through this and he also sees a way out, Jesus is from Herod’s district so Pilate sends Jesus and these leaders to Herod in hopes that Herod might help alleviate the decision the religious leaders have placed on Pilates head.

Herod has been waiting to see Jesus for a long time and now he has received his chance.

He is hoping Jesus will perform some miracle for him.

The problem is Jesus was never one to put on a dog and pony show for anyone.

Herod demonstrates for us that it takes more to know the real Jesus then some hearsay and truly knowing Jesus is to meet Jesus on His terms not on ours.

Herod had a misguided understanding of who Jesus is and because of that Herod was easily manipulated by the world and Herod’s demeanor toward Jesus became malicious.

Now Luke makes it a point to tell his readers something no other gospel says.

In verse 12 Luke writes for us, “Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day; for before they had been enemies with each other.”

Now we don’t know what the animosity was between Herod and Pilate but what is for sure is there was something their.

They served as rulers in the Roman Empire together and Pilate had authority over Herod.

Still no one is sure why they were enemies but notice what brought them together.

It wasn’t a common bound against an enemy.

This wasn’t “the enemy of my enemy” is my friend kind of an idea.

That is uniting together to rid themselves of a common enemy and Jesus was not the enemy.

No what brought them together was Jesus and what they saw and knew of Jesus.

Each of them witnessed the religious leaders bring accusations against a man who posed absolutely no threat to the Roman Empire.

The both examined Jesus and now they had stories to exchange.

It was Jesus’ submission to the will of God that brought these men together.

The affect Jesus by being silent caused these world leaders to unite in friendship.

Jesus has an affect on everyone who encounters Him.

Even if people don’t come to saving faith people have a verdict and an opinion as to who Jesus is and in some way or another people either unite for Him or unite against Him.

These two men united with the world against Jesus and that brought them together.

I also believe Luke said this for an even more power reason which I will get to very soon.

Now after Luke provides for us this statement about the relationship between these two world leaders we get right back to the trial.

Jesus has know gone from before Pilate to going before Herod and now He goes back to Pilate.

In verse 13 Luke picks right back up again.

“Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people.”

Pilate takes his sit again as judge over this matter.

He is calling the court into session so to speak.

Notice he calls the chief priests and the rulers and the people.

This is the entire Sanhedrin and also the people.

Listen it wasn’t just the religious leaders who were there.

There were people there as well.

Now I am sure there were some there who believed in Jesus who were there.

Some of His disciples were at this trial.

But there were also those who were sympathetic to the religious leaders within this group of people as well.

So they now come before the judgment seat of Pilate and Pilate prepares his verdict.

First he Examines the Evidence;

Examine the Evidence

We see as Pilate continues in verse 14; “and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him.”

So here we have Pilate repeating to Jesus’ accusers the charge they have brought before him.

He has weighed the evidence against Jesus by His accusers and Pilate has found Jesus with absolutely no guilt.

Remember the religious leaders brought Jesus to Pilate and said Jesus was stirring the people up against the Roman Empire.

He was causing a coup in Pilate’s region and Pilate had to take care of this.

Now I want you to notice when Pilate says he has examined Him before you.

Pilate is telling them it has been a public trial you are witnesses to my own interrogation of the accused.

I have hid nothing from you.

Luke provides just a brief look at this exam but John provides for us a little more detail of the conversation.

Let’s go ahead and look at John 18:33-38.

Notice how Jesus responds, Jesus is not responding as a man who has been stirring up the people against Rome.

Now here is the deal people who want power, people who want control they fight for it especially on human terms.

Jesus’ description of His Kingdom in John’s gospel is far from a narcissistic mad man who is causing a coup, I am sure to Pilate, Jesus sounded more like a mad man who then an insurrectionist.

Pilate has weighed the evidence and listen to both sides of the argument and even though the religious leaders are bring these accusations before Pilate there is no real witnesses or any true evidence against Jesus.

He sees this.

Pilate has determined his opinion of Jesus and his opinion is Jesus is an innocent man.

When a person encounters Jesus there is always evidence.

We spoke on Thursday night about how people want concrete evidence.

People want something tangible to hold before they can truly believe Jesus is who He says He is.

Look Pilate had Jesus right before him and heard it right from Jesus’ mouth and he believed Jesus was innocent of the accusations of being a rabble-rouser but he still didn’t believe Jesus’ Kingdom was not of this world.

There is a great deal of evidence in this world that God exists, you can look out the window and see His glorious creation.

Go to the beach sometime and sit and watch the sunrise over the ocean.

You can see the glorious colors and the way the sun peeks out and hit the water and gleams off the surface.

As the light dispels the darkness you begin to see the waves more clearly and the color of the water goes from a black to a beautiful blueish green.

You see the foam of the wave heads become a clearer white.

All of that is evidence there is a glorious and powerful creator there is no way that what you just saw happened by accident.

Now there is evidence of a Creator but does that mean then Jesus is real.

Well if you believe in a Creator then that begins the question Who is He, Why has He created me and this world, and what is my role in this world and who is Jesus and why did He walk the earth?

We will not just find the answers to those questions just sitting on the beach, not unless you have a Bible with you.

The Bible is our only concrete evidence into who Jesus is.

It is our only concrete evidence of why we were created and how we are to live.

I just thought about it this morning how people like to say well the Bible is written by men.

I said last week the Bible is written by men’s hands carried along by the Holy Spirit, man didn’t just write this God wrote this.

Now even if you want to argue that men wrote the Bible fine, but didn’t man write history books and science books, the same people who use that stupid argument will listen to what is written in a history book or science book and not bat an eye.

The Bible is not just written by men.

Look at what Peter says to the church;

Peter, himself, was a witness to God’ announcement of Jesus being His Son and Peter also tells us the prophetic word is made sure, meaning the prophecies which we have in the Old Testament are made sure are realized are fulfilled in Jesus Christ Himself.

These prophecy are not up for our own interpretation, we can’t just make it say what we want it to because it was not written by man’s will, it is not from the mind of man but from the mind of God written by the Holy Spirit.

That is why when you read through the passover account in the book of Exodus and then study Jesus’ crucifixion which happened about 3000 years later we find the connections to be incredible.