Not Guilty

Praise and Prayer

This morning we are continuing with our series of leading to the cross, as we make our way to Easter.

We have been following Jesus’ journey to the cross as we get closer to Easter, last week, Wayne preached on how the world hates disciples.

We seen that as Jesus was arrested the disciples scattered because they were hated, but also they were afraid of what the world was going to do to them.

Jesus has told us that the world would hate us because the world hated him first, and therefore, we must expect if we follow him, then the world is going to hate us also.

This morning we are going to look at the trail of Jesus, more specifically Jesus before Pilate and we are going to look at a lot of Scripture, and we wont have time to dig into all of the Scripture in depth, but there are some points that need to be pointed out in this story.

We will read the story and then we will go back through and look at the points that we need to see from the story of Jesus on trial.

John 18:28–19:16 CSB

28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They did not enter the headquarters themselves; otherwise they would be defiled and unable to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and said, “What charge do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered him, “If this man weren’t a criminal, we wouldn’t have handed him over to you.” 31 Pilate told them, “You take him and judge him according to your law.” “It’s not legal for us to put anyone to death,” the Jews declared. 32 They said this so that Jesus’s words might be fulfilled indicating what kind of death he was going to die. 33 Then Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Are you asking this on your own, or have others told you about me?” 35 “I’m not a Jew, am I?” Pilate replied. “Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” 36 “My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus. “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” 37 “You are a king then?” Pilate asked. “You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 “What is truth?” said Pilate. After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no grounds for charging him. 39 You have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at the Passover. So, do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” 40 They shouted back, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a revolutionary. 1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers also twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and clothed him in a purple robe. 3 And they kept coming up to him and saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” and were slapping his face. 4 Pilate went outside again and said to them, “Look, I’m bringing him out to you to let you know I find no grounds for charging him.” 5 Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the temple servants saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” Pilate responded, “Take him and crucify him yourselves, since I find no grounds for charging him.” 7 “We have a law,” the Jews replied to him, “and according to that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was more afraid than ever. 9 He went back into the headquarters and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus did not give him an answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you know that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you?” 11 “You would have no authority over me at all,” Jesus answered him, “if it hadn’t been given you from above. This is why the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.” 12 From that moment Pilate kept trying to release him. But the Jews shouted, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Anyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar!” 13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside. He sat down on the judge’s seat in a place called the Stone Pavement (but in Aramaic, Gabbatha). 14 It was the preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon. Then he told the Jews, “Here is your king!” 15 They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?” “We have no king but Caesar!” the chief priests answered. 16 Then he handed him over to be crucified. Then they took Jesus away.

Next week we will look at the crucifixion of Jesus.

In this story we will see three main points, we will see the charges that area brought against Jesus, Pilates gives his verdict and then who has authority over Jesus.

I. The Charges. Vs. 29, 31, 33-38a

John 18:29 CSB

29 So Pilate came out to them and said, “What charge do you bring against this man?”

Jesus first went before Annas the high priest, but due to the Jewish laws and rules they were not able to get the outcome they wanted so therefore, they brought Jesus before Pilate, the Roman governor.

The Jews would not enter the Gentile house and therefore, they sent Jesus in with the Roman guards, and Pilate comes out to address the Jewish officials.

Asking what are you charging him with, which they reply, if he was not a criminal we would not have brought him to you.

Which did not really answer Pilate’s question, therefore, Pilate responds back to them again.

John 18:31 CSB

31 Pilate told them, “You take him and judge him according to your law.” “It’s not legal for us to put anyone to death,” the Jews declared.

The Jews did not want to give any official charges against Jesus, so Pilate says, go and take him and judge him yourself.

Well, they had already did that, but they could not give the sentence they wanted, as it went against their law, as its not legal for them to put anyone to death.

John 18:33 CSB

33 Then Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Because the Jews would not take Jesus back, Pilate return inside and interviews Jesus if you will, he asks Jesus are you the King of the Jews?

John 18:34 CSB

34 Jesus answered, “Are you asking this on your own, or have others told you about me?”

Jesus wanted to know did the Jewish officials put this idea in Pilates mind or did Pilate have his own concerns about Jesus being the King of the Jews.

Pilate responds, I am not a Jew, and tells Jesus, your own people hand you over to me, what have you done?

John 18:36–37 CSB

36 “My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus. “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” 37 “You are a king then?” Pilate asked. “You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

Jesus then reassures Pilate that as a Roman official he has nothing to be concerned about, Jesus was not here to rebel against the Roman authorities.

His kingdom was not of this world, it is not from here. He said I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth.

In the first part of verse 38, Pilate asks the question what is truth?

II. The Verdict. Vs. 38, 19:1, 4, 6

John 18:38 CSB

38 “What is truth?” said Pilate. After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no grounds for charging him.

Pilate asks Jesus what is truth? not giving Jesus a chance to respond, he goes back out to the Jewish officials and gives his verdict, his finding on the charges that they have brought against him.

He says to the Jewish officials, I find no grounds for charging him, another words I find no fault, or He is not guilty.

Pilate tries to give the Jewish officials away out of these false accusations, as it was customary to release a prisoner at Passover, he gives them a choice, Jesus or Barabbas who is a robber.

The Jewish officials all shouted out that they wanted the carrier criminal that had true charges, to be released, that was guilty of his charges, to be released, but to crucify Jesus who Pilate just ruled was not guilty.

Pilate thinking he could satisfy the Jewish officials took Jesus and John 19:1

John 19:1 CSB

1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.

Flogging involved the use of a whip of leather strips with bits of bone or metal tied to the ends. It would rip skin from the victim’s back.

This beating was so severe that some criminals would actual die while going through a flogging, these whippings would tear flesh from the body exposing muscle, bones and cause major bleeding.

Pilate thought that if he had Jesus flogged then maybe it would appease the Jewish officials and they would be satisfied with it, and agree to release Jesus.

John 19:4 CSB

4 Pilate went outside again and said to them, “Look, I’m bringing him out to you to let you know I find no grounds for charging him.”

After having Jesus flogged, Pilate brings Jesus out where the Jewish officials can see him, and see his physical conditions, see how his body is torn to shreds and he is barely standing, the guards have placed the crown of thorns on his head, put a purple rob on him and had slapped him in the face.

Pilate says to the Jewish officials look at him, I find no grounds for charging him, I find no fault, he is not guilty.

See Pilate thought he could torture Jesus and it would please the Jews, but it did not, why well it was not the plan of the Jews, but more importantly it was not the plan of God.

John 19:6 CSB

6 When the chief priests and the temple servants saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” Pilate responded, “Take him and crucify him yourselves, since I find no grounds for charging him.”

Jesus comes out, all turn to pieces, blood running down his face from the crown of thorns, his back torn to pieces, barley able to stand, and the Jewish officials shout out, Crucify him, Crucify him.

Pilates plan did not work, Pilate says, take him and crucify him yourself, I do not find anything to charge him with.

He is not guilty, there is no fault in this man, you take him and crucify him, as I do not want the blood on my hands.

III. The Authority. Vs. 10-11

John 19:10–11 CSB

10 So Pilate said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you know that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you?” 11 “You would have no authority over me at all,” Jesus answered him, “if it hadn’t been given you from above. This is why the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”

Pilate has told the Jews to take and crucify Jesus themselves, but the Jews say, we have a law and he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God.

Another words, we cannot crucify him ourselves, but he deserves death, they wanted him to die because he was causing them problems, because he was going against their teachings.

The Jews had taken the Old Testament law and had made it very complicated, and Jesus came and said the law comes down to these two things Love God with all you are and Love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 22:36–40 CSB

36 “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

See if you take the 10 Commandments there is two parts, the first part is commands about God, the second is commands about our neighbors if you will.

Well Jesus says, Love God with all you are - all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, that is all you are and if you do that you take care of the first part of the Ten Commandments, then He says, love your neighbor as yourself - well if you do that right you take care of the second part of the Ten Commandments.

But see the Jewish officials had take the laws and complicated them, there are over 600 laws in the Old Testament, and the Jewish officials had made it more than that, and Jesus says, love God with all you are and Love your neighbor as yourself and everything else will work out.

Because the Jews would not take Jesus, they have tied Pilates hands, the accusations that they have now made, put Pilate in a hard place, and now he goes back in and questions Jesus some more.

Pilate asks Jesus, Where are you from? but this time Jesus does not respond, he remains quite, and Pilate says, do you refuse to speak to me, do you not know I have authority to release you and the authority to crucify you?

Pilate does not know who he is truly talking to here, but Jesus is about to let him in on who really has the authority.

Jesus responds to Pilate, You would have no authority over me at all, if it had not been given you from above.

Jesus is telling Pilate, the only reason I am standing here is because this is part of the plan of God the Father, and you have no authority over me, except what he has given you.

See Jesus was not forced to be flogged, he was not forced to be crucified, He went willingly, when we read the story, it may sound as if he was taken forcefully.

Yes, Jewish officials, and Roman Soldiers took him, Yes, Romans soldiers flogged him, but as Jesus says there in verse 11, this only happened because God the Father had given the authority to do so, only because God the Father allowed it to happen.

At any time Jesus could have stopped it, at any time God the Father could have removed Jesus from this but that was not part of the plan, that was not how salvation was going to come to this world.

In order for salvation to come, it had to be a spotless lamb, it had to be a perfect sacrifice that came freely giving of his life.

Jesus came, He was not guilty, he was sinless, and perfect, but yet willing to go through the worse torture and punishment, and even have God the Father turn his back on him, in order to take our sins upon him so that we can have forgiveness and salvation.

If you have not yet experienced the love of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of your sins, He is waiting for you, today is the day of salvation.

Will you accept him, will you come and allow me to talk to you more about him, and what He has done for you, and wants to do for you.