Guilty of Innocence

Guilty of Innocence

Text: John 19:1-7 (NIV)

1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they struck him in the face.

4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”

7 The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

I.        Introduction: Jesus was crucified as a royal pretender, but in reality He was no imposter, but the very Son of God. As the son of God, he suffered to deliver salvation to his subjects. In His disgrace he takes away our shame. Through His death he delivers life. He was charged with impersonating God, but the impersonation was only imagined, for before them all in what appeared the most God forsaken state, stood the King of glory in unseen splendor. “Behold the Man.”

II.      He Endured The Inhumanity of His Humiliation: Cruel Disgrace to a Divine King

A.    Brutal Humiliation

1.      The Brutality of the Whip

2.      The Brutality of the Thorns

3.      The Brutality of the Fist

B.     Mocking Humiliation

1.      Mock Attire

2.      Mock Reverence

III.   He Endured The Indignity of His Presentation: Utter Contempt for the Ultimate Judge

A.    Presented to Accusers

B.     Presented Without Fault

C.     Presented As Ridiculous

IV.    He Endured The Injustice of His Prosecution: Criminal Action Against the Totally Innocent

A.    The Sentence: Death

B.     The Verdict: Insufficient Grounds

C.     The Allegation: Guilty as Charged

V.      Conclusion: Today with our eyes opened to the truth of Jesus, we see the crown of humiliation as the crown of God’s Love. We see Jesus as no pretender to the throne. Driven by divine love he went all the way to the cross to give us His life. Because He was guilty of being innocent, sinners can be set free from sin and guilt. If he had stopped short of giving His body to die and shedding his innocent blood, we would still be in our sins. Today, in truth we hail Jesus as our King.