Sermon Notes (10.31.21)
John 18:28-40
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. (CSB)
The Setup
John 18:28-32
The Irony – They did not enter…otherwise they would be defiled and unable to eat the Passover.
When effort attempts earning we become enslaved.
What are you relying on for your righteousness?
Call to Surrender
John 18:33-38
Are you the King?
MAKING IT PERSONAL – “Are you asking this on your own, or have others told you about me? ”
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“What is truth?” – moral objection masquerading as philosophical inquiry
When we believe truth—that is, ideas that correspond to reality—we show up to reality in such a way that we flourish and thrive. We show up to our bodies, to our sexuality, to our interpersonal relationships, and, above all, to God himself in a way that is congruent with the Creator’s wisdom and good intentions for his creation. As a result, we tend to be happy. But when we believe lies—ideas that are not congruent with the reality of God’s wise and loving design—and then, tragically, open our bodies to those lies and let them into our muscle memories, we allow an ideological cancer to infect our souls. We live at odds with reality, and as a result we struggle to thrive. – John Mark Comer, Live No Lies
Are you going to walk away from ultimate reality?
Provision of a Substitute
John 18:38-40
Barabbas – “son of the father”
2 Corinthians 5:21 – For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
HOW WILL YOU RESPOND?
Repent.
Remember.
Rejoice.
A Prayer for Salvation
“Heavenly Father, I admit that I am weaker and more sinful than I ever before believed, but through your Son Jesus I can be more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I thank you that he lived the life I should have lived and paid the debt and punishment I owed. Receive me now for his sake. I turn from my sins and receive him as Savior. Amen.”