1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:03,240 I hope your Christmas was a time of rest and joy. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:08,480 I hope it was a time of Thanksgiving and fun, and I hope 3 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:13,240 it was a time that helped you to reflect on the miracle and 4 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:16,440 marvel of God becoming man to save us. 5 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:20,640 There is only one Christmas miracle, despite what many 6 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,760 movies or TV shows or plays might say. 7 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:30,800 The one Christmas miracle is that the eternal Son of God came 8 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:36,520 to earth as a human infant to rescue us from sin and to 9 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:40,960 reunite us to God. This is a miracle. 10 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:48,320 It's a marvel, It's peculiar, it's not what you would expect 11 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,880 or predict. You can't make sense of it in 12 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:55,040 worldly categories. In the biblical accounts of 13 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:57,720 Jesus birth. Everywhere we look there are 14 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:02,360 strange and striking details, there are paradoxes. 15 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:05,600 There are things that make us stop and wonder. 16 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:11,200 The King of the universe comes to us in person and he comes as 17 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,280 a helpless infant. Jesus is the long-awaited king 18 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,800 and Messiah, the descendant of David who rescue his people. 19 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:23,920 But he's born in a Manger, a place for farm animals. 20 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:30,240 The one who deserves all honor comes in striking humility. 21 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:34,400 Angels light up the night sky to announce the good news, and the 22 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:36,920 people they tell are lowly, no account. 23 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:43,240 Shepherds, wise men from a distant land, travel from far 24 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,680 away to worship the baby Jesus and to bring him costly gifts. 25 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:50,960 But the local ruler over his own people views him as such a 26 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:55,400 threat that he seeks his life and force his parents to flee 27 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,920 for safety. Why all these paradoxes? 28 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:03,040 Why all these strange and striking details? 29 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:07,040 Because Jesus truly is the King. He's the King of the universe. 30 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:09,080 He's the King of kings and Lord of Lords. 31 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:11,680 He is the one we all need to submit to. 32 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:14,800 He's the only king who can rescue us from sin. 33 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:24,720 And these are all previews, hints, precursors of the way 34 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:29,600 He's going to do that. The only way He can bring in His 35 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:33,320 Kingdom and rescue us from sin is by going to the cross. 36 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:36,840 The only way He can not only enter into His Kingdom, but 37 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,840 bring us ruined sinners into it with Him is by dying on the 38 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:46,360 cross to pay for our sins. This King's Kingdom will only 39 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:52,120 come through the cross. The 5th century pastor Agustin 40 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,640 of Hippo put this point beautifully in a Christmas 41 00:02:55,640 --> 00:03:01,040 sermon. Man's maker was made man. 42 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,160 That he, ruler of the stars, might nurse at his mother's 43 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:10,480 breast. That the bread might hunger, the 44 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:18,240 fountain thirst the light, sleep the way, be tired on its 45 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:22,360 journey. That truth might be accused of 46 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:28,200 false witness, the teacher be beaten with whips, the 47 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:34,920 foundation be suspended on wood. That strength might grow weak. 48 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,120 That the healer might be wounded. 49 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:47,520 That life might die. This morning we continue our 50 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,160 series in Mark's gospel, a gospel that's full of paradoxes 51 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:54,960 and surprises. We come to the very last passage 52 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:59,160 before Jesus crucifixion. So last week in the second-half 53 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:01,840 of chapter 14, we saw how Jesus was arrested. 54 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:04,880 He was abandoned by his disciples. 55 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:10,280 He was tried before a ruling council of the Jewish people and 56 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:14,960 he was denied by Peter. This week we come to Mark 15 57 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:18,000 verses 1 to 14. If you don't have a Bible, 58 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:19,760 please raise your hand and someone will bring you one. 59 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:26,440 In our passage, Jesus stands trial before the Roman governor 60 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:34,640 Pilots on the human level. His life is in Pilots hands. 61 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:38,640 If Pilot says Jesus gets to live, Jesus will live. 62 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:42,760 If Pilot says Jesus has to die, Jesus is going to die. 63 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:48,360 Now, there's one keyword that runs through our passage that if 64 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:53,320 you grasp it rightly and you understand its full meaning, it 65 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:58,280 tells us the truth of who Jesus is and of what's going on in 66 00:04:58,280 --> 00:05:01,920 this trial. See if you can spot it as I read 67 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:06,200 the passage. Mark 15-1 to 15. 68 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:13,440 And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a 69 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:18,200 consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, 70 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:23,280 and they bound Jesus, and led him away, and delivered him over 71 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:26,960 to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, Are you 72 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,880 the King of the Jews? And he answered him, You have 73 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:34,960 said so. And the chief priests accused 74 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:39,760 him of many things, and Pilot again asked him, Have you no 75 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,600 answer to make? See how many charges they bring 76 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:47,600 against you. But Jesus made no further 77 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:52,040 answer, so that Pilot was amazed. 78 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:57,360 Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner 79 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,600 for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison 80 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,120 who had committed murder in the insurrection there was a man 81 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:07,760 called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began 82 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:10,640 to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. 83 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:14,800 And he answered them, saying, Do you want me to release for you 84 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:20,000 the king of the Jews? For he perceived that it was out 85 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:24,120 of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. 86 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:29,320 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him released 87 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:30,960 for them. Barabbas instead. 88 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:37,080 And Pilate again said to them, Then what shall I do with the 89 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:39,360 man you call the King of the Jews? 90 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:42,680 And they cried out again, Crucify him. 91 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:48,360 And Pilate said to them, Why, what evil has he done? 92 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:52,560 But they shouted all the more Crucify him. 93 00:06:53,760 --> 00:07:00,040 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them 94 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:06,800 Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be 95 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:13,920 crucified. In our passage, Jesus is 96 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:19,040 referred to as king three times, and in the rest of chapter 15 97 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:21,720 he'll be called king three more times. 98 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:27,880 Now that's a word that in all of Mark's gospel has not yet been 99 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:31,200 applied to Jesus. And here in this chapter it 100 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:34,200 shows up six times. Now that we come to his trial 101 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:38,520 and his crucifixion, the word king is everywhere. 102 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,440 Here's the main point of our passage in one sentence. 103 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:54,240 Jesus is a king like none in this world, and his Kingdom is 104 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:59,480 not of this world. Jesus is a king like none in 105 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:06,760 this world, and his Kingdom is not of this world. 106 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:11,040 As we walk through the passage, we'll see what kind of king 107 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,760 Jesus is and what that means for you and me. 108 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:19,320 I'll have five points. What kind of king is Jesus? 109 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:24,560 Point #1 verses 1 to 5. The accused king. 110 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:31,360 The accused king, look again with me at verse one. 111 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:35,720 And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a 112 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:38,919 consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, 113 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:44,360 and they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to 114 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:48,080 Pilate. Last week we're studying chapter 115 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:52,120 14. We saw in verses 53 to 65 that 116 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:56,080 the ruling council of the Jews, called the Sanhedrin, held a 117 00:08:56,080 --> 00:09:01,880 hearing to establish a charge that they could try to use to 118 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:06,120 get Jesus put to death. I think verse one in our passage 119 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:09,520 is simply telling us what they did next immediately after they 120 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:13,160 had found their charge. When the high priest asked Jesus 121 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:18,320 if he's the Messiah, Jesus not only said yes, but he asserted a 122 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:21,600 that he had a type of authority that they took to be 123 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:24,320 blasphemous. They took it to be encroaching 124 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:27,480 on what belongs rightly only to God. 125 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:32,360 So they have their grounds that are sufficient for them to want 126 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:37,320 him to be put to death. But at that time, under Roman 127 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:39,800 rule, they didn't have the authority to carry out the death 128 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:40,920 penalty. That was something only the 129 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:45,040 Roman government could do. So in verse one, they consult us 130 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:46,840 to what to do next. OK, we have our charge. 131 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:48,560 What are we going to do? All right, we'll bring them to 132 00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:50,840 pilot to have a trial before pilot. 133 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:53,160 It's it's very early in the morning. 134 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:56,400 It's probably right around Daybreak of what we now call 135 00:09:56,400 --> 00:10:00,080 Good Friday, it was common for Roman officials to conduct 136 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,800 judicial business early in the morning and then spend the rest 137 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:05,960 of the day at leisure, kind of logging a few hours of their 138 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:08,640 main work and then spending the rest of the day, you know, doing 139 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:12,080 2 rounds of golf or whatever, that they had a life of leisure 140 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:14,240 after their basic responsibilities. 141 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:16,880 So it makes sense that they would bring it, bring it to him 142 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:20,800 first thing in the morning. Pilate, also known as Pontius 143 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:24,360 Pilate, was the 5th Roman governor of Palestine. 144 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:28,080 He lived at Caesarea on the coast, so that's northwest of 145 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:30,240 Jerusalem. But during festivals like 146 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:34,160 Passover, Jerusalem swelled with pilgrims and political tempers 147 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:36,280 ran high. So he would have spent the whole 148 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:39,600 duration of the feast a week or more in Jerusalem, kind of 149 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:42,960 overseeing things, making sure nothing got out of hand, giving 150 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:44,760 a more careful eye to what was happening. 151 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:52,280 Now, Pilate was a man caught between the rock of Rome's 152 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:57,080 imperial agenda and the hard place of his subjects, 153 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:00,600 resentment of Roman rule. Rome wanted order. 154 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,760 Rome wanted taxes. Rome wanted to be able to carry 155 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:06,440 out trade. They did not want intense 156 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:10,000 religious uprisings taking place kind of out of the periphery of 157 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,440 their empire. So pilot's a man caught in 158 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:14,280 between. He has to advance the Roman 159 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,840 agenda, but he has to do it in a way that is not going to cause 160 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:19,880 the resentment. And it's always simmering under 161 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:23,480 the surface in Judea to kind of bubble over and burn something. 162 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:28,280 Now this man Pilate, caught between a rock and a hard place, 163 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:33,160 holds Jesus's fate in his hands. Verse 2. 164 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:38,000 And Pilate asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? 165 00:11:38,680 --> 00:11:41,560 And he answered him. You have said so. 166 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:45,160 Now where did Pilate get this question? 167 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,840 How did he know to ask this question of Jesus? 168 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:52,200 Are you the king of the Jews? Mark's gospel doesn't tell us 169 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:55,360 explicitly, but I think we can easily figure out the answer 170 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,320 from the context. Again, before the Sanhedrin at 171 00:11:58,320 --> 00:11:59,880 this hearing that's just happened. 172 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:02,440 Jesus has just confessed that he's the Messiah. 173 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:04,880 What is the Messiah? The Messiah is the promised son 174 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:06,360 of David. What was David? 175 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:09,440 He was the king over Israel, and the Messiah was promised to 176 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:12,880 reign on David's throne. So to be the Messiah is to be a 177 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,960 king. Not only that, but Jesus's 178 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:19,520 answer claimed A shockingly high authority. 179 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:23,840 He quoted to scripture passages Daniel 713 and Psalm 110 verse 180 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:27,680 one that equate his authority with God's authority. 181 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:31,120 God is the king of everything and Jesus is claiming to possess 182 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:36,360 that same authority. Now, a Roman governor is not 183 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:39,880 really going to care about a claim to be Messiah. 184 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:44,360 That's just going to sound like some obscure figure from a 185 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:47,160 religion he doesn't belong to, that he just has to have a kind 186 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:50,200 of professional working knowledge of to keep the peace. 187 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:56,520 He's not going to care about a claim to Messiah unless someone 188 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:00,480 tells him that that claim has serious political implications 189 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:03,880 that he should be interested in. So I think we're meant to 190 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:07,880 understand that Pilot gets his question from the Sanhedrin. 191 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:12,120 They inform on Jesus. Hey, Pilate, this guy's claimed 192 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:14,360 to be a king. You should ask him about that. 193 00:13:14,560 --> 00:13:18,560 They translate Messiah into terms that'll make sense to 194 00:13:18,560 --> 00:13:22,800 Pilate, king of the Jews. It's the question they hand him 195 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:24,360 to ask. Now, that is something that 196 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:27,320 Pilate might be interested in. Oh, King of the Jews. 197 00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:30,200 Someone claiming to be king of the Jews could be a threat to 198 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:32,840 Roman rule. They could be a threat to Roman 199 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:34,560 order. They could be a threat to Pilot 200 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:37,440 personally. If someone says they're king of 201 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:40,160 the Jews, well, that sure sounds like they're going to want to 202 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:42,600 get rid of Roman rule. They might even rebel. 203 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:45,320 They might even lead some kind of armed uprising against the 204 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:50,160 Romans. That, at least, is how the 205 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:55,040 Sanhedrin would have tried to make Jesus seem to Pilate. 206 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:56,640 Hey, Pilate, this guy's a threat. 207 00:13:56,960 --> 00:13:59,280 He claims to be a king. You don't want a guy like that 208 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:01,120 running free in Jerusalem, do you? 209 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,000 So. Pilate asks, and Jesus answers. 210 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:09,720 You have said so. Now, this is not a denial. 211 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:13,840 It's not even really an evasion. Instead it's an affirmation. 212 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:18,280 But it's a guarded 1, it's a cagey 1, and it pushes the 213 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:22,440 burden back onto Pilot. What does Pilot think? 214 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:26,120 You have said so do you think that? 215 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:30,120 Do you believe that? What does pilot think? 216 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:35,160 Jesus is not letting Pilot play any kind of detached role as a 217 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:38,600 mere judicial umpire, just calling balls and strikes. 218 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:44,800 Instead, he's forcing pilots to consider the true answer to his 219 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:49,400 own question. Here's one of the most important 220 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:54,640 things we all need to realize about Jesus's kingship. 221 00:14:55,880 --> 00:15:01,560 It's not a question of whether you will submit to Jesus as 222 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:10,080 King, but only of when and how. You can submit to Him by faith. 223 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:14,040 Now you can confess him as Lord, You can entrust yourself to Him 224 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:15,800 and live your whole life for Him. 225 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,760 If you do, then one day you'll be united with Him forever in 226 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:23,360 His glorious Kingdom. That is how you should submit to 227 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:27,240 Him. But if you don't submit to him 228 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:33,240 now, you will be forced to submit to him later on the last 229 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:35,600 day. If you don't receive him as King 230 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:41,480 now, you will be required to bow before him on the last day when 231 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:45,840 he returns as judge. But then you will receive not 232 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:53,880 glory and blessing, but an everlasting curse and judgement. 233 00:15:55,880 --> 00:16:02,160 At the present moment, there are 43 modern nation states that are 234 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:06,520 governed by a monarch. That means a King, Queen, 235 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:10,920 Emperor, Sultan, Amir, Grand Duke, the Pope, or another 236 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:13,840 monarch that serves as the country's head of state. 237 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,600 Some of these are constitutional monarchies or the monarchs role 238 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:21,240 is largely ceremonial. Some of these are absolute 239 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:26,040 monarchies where the monarch has near total power, and among 240 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:29,080 these are the 15 Commonwealth realms where Charles the Third, 241 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:30,840 the King of England, is head of state. 242 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:37,440 Modern monarchies include Eswatini, Lesotho, Morocco, 243 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:45,080 Bahrain, Bhutan, Brunei, Andorra, Belgium and Denmark. 244 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:49,720 Here's the thing, unless you live in one of those countries, 245 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:52,720 them having a monarch just does not matter to you. 246 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:56,440 And even if you live in one of those countries, perhaps one 247 00:16:56,440 --> 00:16:59,240 that has a a constitutional monarch, a Commonwealth monarch, 248 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:03,360 having a monarch doesn't make much of a difference in your 249 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:07,240 life. And those ceremonial monarchies 250 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:10,440 are just kind of a fancy, expensive hood ornament of the 251 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:15,240 state, a relic leftover from an era when a whole lot of people 252 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:20,240 believe that kings ruled by divine right monarchies are kind 253 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:22,760 of a vanishing species from the modern world. 254 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:26,880 It's constant talk of shrinking them, getting rid of them, 255 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:30,920 dismantling them. But Jesus is different. 256 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:37,760 He really is the king of all all people, all places, all nations, 257 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:40,760 all times, every single human soul. 258 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:45,840 He's the king of every nation, every people, every person, and 259 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:50,640 he has absolute authority. When we think about a human 260 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:52,840 being wielding absolute authority, normally we are 261 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:55,200 rightly scared. We are rightly skeptical. 262 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:56,920 Why? Because human beings are fallen. 263 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,920 Self interested, self-serving. The more power you give to one 264 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:02,960 individual, the more harm they can do to others. 265 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:08,480 But Jesus is just the opposite. He's morally perfect. 266 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,640 He's morally pure. He came not to be served, but to 267 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:15,120 serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. 268 00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:19,000 He is the only monarch who deserves absolute authority. 269 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:24,120 Because he has absolute purity and perfection, we can trust him 270 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:29,800 to wield absolute authority. Because he is absolutely loving 271 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:34,960 only in Jesus, our absolute power and absolute compassion, 272 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:40,080 perfectly unified. And so Pilate asks. 273 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:43,800 And so Jesus answers. He is the King of the Jews and 274 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:46,840 Pilate better think about what that means, not so much for his 275 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:53,200 precarious political position, but for the good of his eternal 276 00:18:53,440 --> 00:19:00,240 soul. Verses 3 and four And the chief 277 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,360 priests accused him of many things. 278 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:05,480 And Pilate again asked him, Have you no answer to make? 279 00:19:06,360 --> 00:19:08,560 See how many charges they bring against you. 280 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:12,760 Mark doesn't list the specific charges that were brought 281 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:17,720 against Jesus, but Luke 23 verse 2 tells us some of them it says 282 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:22,080 and they began to accuse him, saying we found this man 283 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:25,640 misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to 284 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:30,520 Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. 285 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:34,800 This is just like in the testimony of the false witnesses 286 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:39,080 before the Sanhedrin. These charges are distorted. 287 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:42,400 They remember Jesus said something about paying taxes to 288 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:44,040 Caesar, but they got it exactly wrong. 289 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:47,560 Jesus said render to Caesar what is Caesar's. 290 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:50,400 He didn't forbid paying taxes to Caesar. 291 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:54,680 He in fact commanded it. So even though they're right 292 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:57,280 that he claims to be the Messiah, there's all sorts of 293 00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:01,240 false testimony creeping back in to their charges against him 294 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:05,560 before Pilot. They want to stack the case 295 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:07,880 against him. They want to make sure it 296 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:09,920 sticks. They want to make sure that 297 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:13,920 Pilot feels it is in his own political self-interest to get 298 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:17,280 rid of Jesus. But Jesus doesn't respond. 299 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:21,200 He's silent. Again, we have to ask why. 300 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:23,400 And I think there are two reasons. 301 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:28,960 One is to continue to fulfill the Scriptures like Isaiah 53, 302 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:33,000 verse seven that testify to how the suffering Servant will be 303 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:38,640 silent before his accusers. But I think another reason is to 304 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:45,120 demonstrate faith in his Father. Jesus has already borne witness 305 00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:46,840 to the truth that he's the Messiah. 306 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:49,920 He's already borne witness to the truth of his divine 307 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:52,360 identity. He's borne witness even before 308 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,240 Pilot to the truth of his kingship. 309 00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:59,760 What more does he need to say? Nothing. 310 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:04,720 He doesn't need to dignify false charges by giving them an 311 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:08,560 answer. He doesn't need to dignify false 312 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:14,040 accusers by stooping to their level instead. 313 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:17,360 And here's another key point about Jesus kingship. 314 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:24,040 Even when he's on trial, he remains the judge. 315 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:29,160 Even when he's bound with ropes around his wrists, he remains 316 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:35,680 sovereign and free. He is not being condemned 317 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:38,760 against his will. Instead, he is giving up his 318 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:43,280 life willingly. He's not being led to defeat. 319 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:47,280 Instead, he's marching steadily toward victory, both at the 320 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:52,400 cross and beyond the cross. We see this even in how Jesus 321 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:57,800 responds to Pilate. Mark doesn't record Jesus using 322 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:02,080 any language that shows any deference toward Pilot's 323 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:05,320 authority. There's no respectful my Lord. 324 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:09,440 There's no verbal recognition that Pilot is the one who holds 325 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:12,440 power here. Jesus is not setting himself up 326 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:20,360 under Pilot's authority. Instead, he speaks to Pilot as 327 00:22:20,360 --> 00:22:23,080 one who knows he is. In fact, Pilot's superior. 328 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:26,120 Doesn't look like it. You wouldn't see it by your 329 00:22:26,120 --> 00:22:29,520 senses. But Jesus infinitely outranks 330 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:33,480 Pilot, and he addresses him from that position of sovereignty 331 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:37,400 even while he's being judged by Pilot. 332 00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:42,280 Jesus knows that he is Pilot's judge, and he acts as Pilot's 333 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:44,200 judge. He doesn't need to get the last 334 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:49,120 word now, because he will himself get the last word on the 335 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:54,960 last day. So even after Pilate asks Jesus 336 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:58,720 why he's not responding in verse 5, we read. 337 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:05,680 But Jesus made no further answer so that Pilate was amazed. 338 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:11,480 Jesus kept his silence and Pilate was stunned. 339 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:15,920 What kind of prisoner is this? What kind of accused person is 340 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:20,400 this who can be so calm and collected in the face of such 341 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:24,440 weighty accusations when their life is hanging in the balance? 342 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:34,120 Jesus is the accused King and He knows He is not only innocent, 343 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:39,160 but He is the King of all those who are accusing him. 344 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:45,400 He has no need to answer to them, because one day they all 345 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:49,880 will answer to Him. Jesus has no need to answer to 346 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:54,800 you because one day you will answer to Him. 347 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:02,160 Point #2 the captive king. The captive king. 348 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:09,600 We see this in verses 6 to 9. As we've just seen in the 1st 5 349 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:13,080 verses of our passage, Pilate has heard the charges against 350 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:17,280 Jesus. He has heard Jesus make no 351 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:19,200 defense of himself, and he's amazed. 352 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:25,560 But what he's not is convinced that Jesus has done anything 353 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:29,560 worthy of death. The the trial is over. 354 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,520 The hearing is over. There's no guilty verdict. 355 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:34,400 There's no evidence for his guilt. 356 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:39,760 So pilots heard him. He's amazed that Jesus is calm 357 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:44,320 his his poise, his silence. But we're not moving forward 358 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:47,400 here with a guilty verdict. We'll see that explicitly in 359 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:51,080 verse 14. For now, it's important to note 360 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:54,600 that Pilate still has a dilemma on his hands. 361 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:58,560 The leaders of the Jewish people want Jesus put to death, but 362 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:02,600 Pilate does not see any good reason to do that. 363 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,240 So he's looking for a way out. Look at verses 6 to 9. 364 00:25:09,120 --> 00:25:12,160 Now, at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner 365 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,360 for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison 366 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:18,600 who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man 367 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:22,000 called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began 368 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:24,480 to ask Pilot to do as he usually did for them. 369 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,040 And he answered them, saying, Do you want me to release for you, 370 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:32,240 the king of the Jews? As a way to gain favor with the 371 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:34,760 people During the Passover, Pilot was in the habit of 372 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,760 releasing 1 prisoner of their choosing each year. 373 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:39,960 It's a little bit like a presidential pardon. 374 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:44,640 And here Mark mentions one particular prisoner, Barabbas, 375 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:47,800 whom the crowd will later ask Pilot to release. 376 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:54,480 Barabbas is an Aramaic name. It means son of the Father. 377 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:59,080 Barabbas is a kind of photo negative of Jesus. 378 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,880 It we learned that he committed murder in the insurrection. 379 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:06,800 Insurrection is an armed uprising against Roman rule. 380 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,880 So Barabbas killed somebody during some recent attempt to 381 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,160 overthrow Roman rule. We don't we don't know from 382 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:15,000 history exactly what or when this is. 383 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:19,920 There's kind of several things it could have been, but Barabbas 384 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:25,440 was a known political opponent of Rome and a convicted 385 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,560 criminal. He was a captive because of 386 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:34,960 crimes he himself had committed. One key historical detail for us 387 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:39,280 to keep in mind is that crucifixion was a punishment 388 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:43,920 that the Romans reserved for those who had committed 389 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,840 insurrection. In other words, in ancient Rome, 390 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:51,440 the only way to get yourself crucified was to violently 391 00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:54,880 resist Roman rule, which is exactly what Barabbas had done 392 00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:57,400 according to Roman judicial norms. 393 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:01,080 Barabbas deserved to be crucified. 394 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:05,200 He actually had done what the chief priests are falsely 395 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:10,480 accusing Jesus of doing. He had violently opposed Roman 396 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:12,920 rule. So now the crowd comes up to 397 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:15,680 Pilot and asks him to release a prisoner for them. 398 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:20,040 Here's where Pilot spots his potential way out. 399 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:22,720 At this moment, Jesus is a captive. 400 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:26,400 He's in the same position as Barabbas and other prisoners and 401 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:28,360 pilots looking for a way not to kill him. 402 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:32,880 So he asked if they want him to release Jesus. 403 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:41,720 Pause here. Consider the God of the universe 404 00:27:43,120 --> 00:27:49,040 is in a position of a condemned captive criminal. 405 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:55,800 Humanly speaking, his fate is entirely out of his hands. 406 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:02,320 He's powerless to intervene. He has no hope of securing his 407 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:05,600 own release. If that's what he was trying to 408 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:12,000 do. What is this captive king doing? 409 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:19,320 He is standing in the place of condemned sinners. 410 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,680 Each of us deserves eternal death for our sins. 411 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:28,560 Each of us deserves to have God's absolutely perfect justice 412 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:34,840 executed against us forever. And each of us is powerless to 413 00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:39,440 escape our own condemnation. None of us can work our way out 414 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:43,080 of it. None of us can plead our way out 415 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:47,880 of it, argue our way out of it. None of us can present a case 416 00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:52,320 that would go any distance toward getting the guilty 417 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:57,160 verdict against us overturned. Spiritually speaking, apart from 418 00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:02,040 faith in Christ, each of us is a condemned criminal. 419 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:08,760 There's nothing you can do to escape God's sentence against 420 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:11,560 you. That's why Jesus had to. 421 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:18,600 That's why Jesus was willing to bear that sentence for you and 422 00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:25,960 His death on the cross point #3 the envied king. 423 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:32,000 The envied king. Verse 10. 424 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:39,920 For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests 425 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:45,240 had delivered him up. In other words, pilots saw 426 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:49,160 through the pretexts the chief priests and the other Jewish 427 00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:53,120 authorities offered. He saw that Jesus was a popular 428 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:56,760 teacher. He discerned that they resented 429 00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:01,040 Jesus's popularity. He saw that their opposition to 430 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,680 Jesus wasn't principled so much as personal. 431 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:10,440 So Pilate wasn't persuaded by the case that the chief priests 432 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:15,600 made. He didn't think Jesus really was 433 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:20,080 a threat to Roman rule, whatever the Messiah is. 434 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:23,760 Pilate didn't think that Jesus was that kind of threat that had 435 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:28,920 to be dealt with by execution. He didn't think that Jesus was 436 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:32,960 very much like Barabbas. What kind of insurrectionist 437 00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:36,360 doesn't even answer the charges against him? 438 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:41,920 So even though Pilot is far from being a spiritual model for us 439 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:45,320 here, he shows some shrewdness. He shows some insight into human 440 00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:47,320 nature. He saw that the chief priest 441 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,640 envy Jesus popularity. What is envy? 442 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:59,320 It's grief or anger caused by another's success. 443 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:05,720 The chief priests wanted the hearts of the people for 444 00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:10,000 themselves. Their vain glory blinded them to 445 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:14,880 the truth of Jesus kingship. They wanted for themselves what 446 00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:19,320 rightly belonged to Him. Their envy made them glory 447 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:24,720 thieves. The fallen human heart is a 448 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:31,840 factory of envy. Who are you tempted to envy? 449 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:37,080 What is it that someone else gets that should make you happy 450 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:42,800 for them, but instead makes you sad or mad? 451 00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:47,320 Whatever that object is, that's the cause of your envy. 452 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:52,320 That is something that you are loving more than you love God. 453 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:58,240 Envy is like a flashbulb that reveals in an instant how your 454 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:03,040 loves are out of order. If someone else's success makes 455 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:09,160 you sad or angry, that success you wish you had but don't is an 456 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:14,800 idol. How can you overcome envy only 457 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:19,680 by overcoming idolatry? How can you overcome idolatry 458 00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:22,760 only by growing to love God more? 459 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:28,240 How can you come to love God more? 460 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:37,680 Consider the lengths God Himself went to in order to love you. 461 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:43,800 Consider what God put Himself through in the person of His 462 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:49,600 Incarnate Son in order to embrace you in His love forever. 463 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:57,040 How can you grow in loving God by meditating on how He first 464 00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:02,760 loved you? So at this point in our passage, 465 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:08,080 Pilate is looking for a way out. Maybe this prisoner release 466 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:12,960 custom will do the trick, but he has to do it with the people's 467 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:15,360 consent. He can't just unilaterally 468 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:19,080 decide what good would it be to release to them a prisoner they 469 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:23,240 don't want, a prisoner they hate that would do Pilate harm. 470 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:28,640 Not good. So he has to hear the will of 471 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:40,520 the people .4 the innocent king. The innocent King We see Jesus's 472 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:44,720 innocence displayed in verses 11 to 14. 473 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:56,520 Look first at verses 11 and 12. But the chief priests stirred up 474 00:33:56,520 --> 00:33:58,160 the crowd to have him released for them. 475 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:01,920 Barabbas instead. And Pilot again said to them, 476 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:04,640 Then what shall I do with the man you call the king of the 477 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:08,159 Jews? So far Pilots plan is not 478 00:34:08,159 --> 00:34:11,000 working out. The chief priests stir up the 479 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:14,560 crowd to ask for Barabbas. So Pilot asks what they want to 480 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:17,080 do with Jesus. And there's that title again. 481 00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:20,840 The man you call King of the Jews again. 482 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:23,960 I think this also confirms that they're the ones who told pilots 483 00:34:24,199 --> 00:34:25,960 that Jesus is the King of the Jews. 484 00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:30,719 The irony here is thick. The Jewish leaders reject Jesus, 485 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:33,840 claim to be the Messiah, and yet that's what they tell Pilate. 486 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:36,840 He is even an act of reporting on Jesus. 487 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:40,000 To Pilate, they unwittingly bear witness to the truth. 488 00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:41,679 They speak better than they know. 489 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:44,159 They might have said. He calls himself the King of the 490 00:34:44,159 --> 00:34:46,199 Jews. And even in the title that's 491 00:34:46,199 --> 00:34:49,040 written up when Jesus is crucified, some people try to 492 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:50,320 correct it. Don't, don't put king of the 493 00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:52,280 Jews, but he called himself king of the Jews. 494 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:56,360 But to Pilate, who cares? All the same to him you say king 495 00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:58,200 of the Jews, I say king of the Jews. 496 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,400 That's who he is. So what do they want to do with 497 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:04,760 their own king? How do they want to treat him? 498 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:10,760 Verses 13 and 14? And they cried out again, 499 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:15,200 Crucify him. And Pilate said to them, why, 500 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:19,480 What evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, 501 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:23,760 crucify him. It's important to note that 502 00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:28,440 several parties share responsibility for Jesus death. 503 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:32,280 The chief priests stir up opposition among the crowd. 504 00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:35,360 The crowd crowd first crucifixion. 505 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:40,160 And as we're going to see, Pilot will cave to political pressure 506 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:46,400 and go along with their request. Leaders and people, Jews and 507 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:50,800 Romans. Everyone shares in this guilt. 508 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:54,200 These verses, too, are thick with ironies. 509 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:57,440 Barabbas is truly guilty. No argument there. 510 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:00,080 And Pilate declares Jesus innocence. 511 00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:02,320 What evil has he done? None. 512 00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:04,960 No evil deserving death. No evil at all. 513 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:09,360 No evil ever. In asking this question, Pilate 514 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:11,560 too spoke better than he knew you could. 515 00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:14,040 Just let the question echo and echo and echo. 516 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:17,840 What evil has he done? There will not be an answer 517 00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:20,400 because it's none. Another irony. 518 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:29,920 Barabbas deserves to die. Jesus deserves to live. 519 00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:37,880 Another irony in demanding the release of a guilty person and 520 00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:44,040 the death of an innocent person, the crowd itself becomes guilty. 521 00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:48,040 And demanding the release of a murderer and the death of an 522 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:51,600 innocent man. They become complicit in that 523 00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:56,840 innocent man's murder. It's as if the people have come 524 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:00,680 up with an ingenious solution. OK, Pilate, sure, Jesus doesn't 525 00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:03,920 deserve death. You say so, but Barabbas does. 526 00:37:04,720 --> 00:37:07,880 So there is a death sentence to be carried out here. 527 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:12,680 How about Jesus takes that one and Barabbas goes free? 528 00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:20,640 What's going on here? Mark is teaching us that each 529 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:27,000 and every one of us is Barabbas. We're all justly condemned by 530 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:30,000 God for our sins. We all deserve to die eternally 531 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:33,480 for our armed rebellion against God's authority. 532 00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:38,480 And yet God worked out a marvelous, miraculous prisoner 533 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:42,360 exchange brothers and sisters, you who trust in Christ for 534 00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:44,840 salvation. Each of us is Barabbas. 535 00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:46,800 Not just in that we've broken God's law. 536 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:50,920 Not just in that we deserve death for our sins, but in that 537 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:56,280 Christ suffered our death sentence and we get to go free. 538 00:37:56,960 --> 00:37:58,280 This is the heart of the good news. 539 00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:01,080 This is the heart of the gospel. This is the very heart of what 540 00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:05,520 Jesus came to do. Each of us deserves eternal 541 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:08,600 condemnation. We're condemned. 542 00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:11,840 We're captive. There's nothing we can do to 543 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:16,560 release ourselves. And yet, because Jesus steps 544 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:21,680 into that place of condemnation, judgment, justice, wrath, 545 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:26,600 everyone who trusts in Jesus for salvation is released, goes away 546 00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:30,880 free, free and clear. No debt to pay, no punishment to 547 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:35,120 suffer, no wrath to fear. That's what Jesus came to do. 548 00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:38,040 That's this great exchange he came to accomplish. 549 00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:42,440 And it really does take the form of a prisoner exchange in which 550 00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:48,400 we, each of us were, as it were, on death row, justly. 551 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:53,680 Jesus took our place and he rose from the dead to prove that 552 00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:56,520 death has no power over him. Death has no dominion over him. 553 00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:59,240 Death doesn't get the last word on him, and it will not get the 554 00:38:59,240 --> 00:39:01,040 last word on all who trust in Christ. 555 00:39:01,240 --> 00:39:05,120 If you've never turned from sin and trusted in Jesus, trust in 556 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:08,960 him as the substitute. You need the exchange. 557 00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:13,600 You need the one to take your sentence, the only one who can. 558 00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:23,840 An injustice on the human plane led to more than justice on the 559 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:29,640 divine plane. Jesus is the innocent king, and 560 00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:32,520 he's the innocent king who's condemned to die for those who 561 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:35,720 are guilty, condemned criminals. Which brings us to the last 562 00:39:35,720 --> 00:39:44,560 point .5 the crucified king. The crucified king, verse 15. 563 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:51,280 So Pilot, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them 564 00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:57,120 Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be 565 00:39:57,120 --> 00:40:00,680 crucified. Now Pilots motives here were 566 00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:04,000 obvious. He wasn't motivated by justice. 567 00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:08,200 He wasn't motivated by truth. If he had been, he would not 568 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:12,200 have condemned an innocent man instead. 569 00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:17,000 He was motivated by political self preservation. 570 00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:22,600 He wanted to keep the peace in order to preserve his position. 571 00:40:23,720 --> 00:40:30,160 He let false peace triumph over truth and justice. 572 00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:37,520 He let self-interest triumph over an innocent man's life. 573 00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:44,240 Commenting on this verse, the 19th century Anglican Bishop JC 574 00:40:44,240 --> 00:40:49,480 Ryle reflects powerfully on the temptations that all those who 575 00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:52,280 are in worldly positions of power face. 576 00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:57,720 Ryle writes. A man or woman in high place 577 00:40:57,720 --> 00:41:01,560 without religious principles is one of the most pitiable sights 578 00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:05,400 in the world. They're like a large ship tossed 579 00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:09,360 to and fro on the sea, without compass or rudder. 580 00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:13,680 Their very greatness surrounds them with temptations and 581 00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:16,800 snares. It gives them power for good or 582 00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:20,880 evil, which, if they do not know how to use it properly, is sure 583 00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:24,920 to bring them into difficulties and to make them unhappy. 584 00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:29,920 Let us pray much for great men and women. 585 00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:34,120 They need great grace to keep them from the devil. 586 00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:45,880 High places are slippery places. Pilate slips and Jesus's fate is 587 00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:48,720 sealed. Barabbas is released. 588 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:53,040 Jesus is scourged. That's a painful beating with 589 00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:57,200 whips that had stones and shards of glass or metal attached to 590 00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:02,640 the tips, and Pilate has Jesus handed over, delivered over. 591 00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:09,120 Barabbas walks free and Jesus walks to the cross without 592 00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:12,000 knowing it, without intending it. 593 00:42:13,160 --> 00:42:15,920 Pilate is playing a role in a far greater exchange. 594 00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:20,040 He is setting in motion a wonderful substitution. 595 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:23,880 Ultimately, it's not merely Pilate making the exchange, it's 596 00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:27,280 the God of the universe. Ultimately, Pilate isn't merely 597 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:30,160 handing over Jesus to the people's will. 598 00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:33,080 He's handing over Jesus to God's will. 599 00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:40,600 In this exchange, God delivers Jesus up to God's own will. 600 00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:44,320 It was the will of the Lord to crush him. 601 00:42:44,720 --> 00:42:48,400 He has put him to grief. All we, like sheep, have gone 602 00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:52,760 astray, each of us to his own way, and the Lord has laid on 603 00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:58,440 him the iniquity of us all. Jesus is the crucified King. 604 00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:02,200 His Kingdom comes through the cross because he came to rescue 605 00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:04,400 you and me. He came to redeem you and me. 606 00:43:04,640 --> 00:43:10,640 He came to ransom you and me. What kind of king is Jesus? 607 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:16,360 He is a king like no king this world has ever seen or heard of. 608 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:19,800 He's a king who gives his innocent life for the guilty. 609 00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:23,560 He's a king who submits to death so you can have life. 610 00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:28,160 He's a king who allows himself to be judged and condemned in 611 00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:31,560 order to deliver those who deserve that condemnation. 612 00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:37,720 He's a king who gives everything in love. 613 00:43:39,240 --> 00:43:45,560 He's a King who gives everything to those who deserve nothing. 614 00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:52,160 All you have to do to receive everything from Jesus is turn 615 00:43:52,160 --> 00:43:55,000 from sin and receive Him in faith. 616 00:43:55,400 --> 00:44:00,120 If you haven't, I pray you will. Today, let's pray. 617 00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:08,600 Heavenly Father, we praise you for this great exchange, this 618 00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:13,400 marvelous substitution that you ordained and purposed and 619 00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:17,640 accomplished through the willing submission of your eternal and 620 00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:19,840 Incarnate Son. Father, we pray that we would 621 00:44:19,840 --> 00:44:23,440 receive him as our Savior and joyfully submit to Him as our 622 00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:26,200 King. We pray these things in Jesus 623 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:27,800 name, Amen.