Jesus Before Pilate Part 2 - Lowly Majesty and Magisterial Crime - John 18:33-40

0:40I want to ask the question in another way. Is truth your king? Is truth your king? Do you walk in truth? Are you defined by truth? Is truth your king? Have you come under the sovereign reign of truth? Truth. If truth were a person, and every lie that you told, every lie that you believe or prefer to believe, if every lie in your life was a lash or a strike against this person, Person of truth, what would this person look like at the conclusion of your life? How mangled would this person be?

1:44You know, we often butcher truth, don't we? We can do so in very subtle ways. Jesus Himself, truth incarnate, was butchered, butchered because of the lies, because of the darkness. You know, I think we need to ask the question a little more carefully: who really is our king? Is Jesus really your king? You see, the reason some of you all may tell lies and prefer to believe lies about other people and prefer to believe lies about God or set truth aside, however, you get to put distance between you and the truth, the reason you do so is because truth really is not king over you.

2:46And we can live in a world of self-delusion and go through our lives thinking, yeah, we belong to Christ, we belong to Him, and yet truth is absent from you. And Jesus, who is truth incarnate, is not your king, if such is the case. If you are comfortable in that which is false, whether speaking that which is false, in small or large, or preferring that which is false, or believing that believing that which is false, I can assure you, truth is not your king, and Christ is not your king.

3:31You know, we don't find ourselves by looking out for ourselves. That's not how you find yourself. Pilate is a good example of this. No, we find our lives by discovering truth and coming under his reign. Truth about ourselves, truth about God, truth about his king, truth about the nature of his kingship. So is truth king over your life? Who is your king? Well, today, John takes us into a trial that's aimed at understanding the nature of Christ's kingdom, of Jesus' kingship. And as I said last time, this is really part two of a message called Lowly Majesty. And magisterial crime. There's an investigation going on. Who is Christ? What is his kingdom like? What is his kingship like? And we need to be honest in our investigation of him.

4:49Pilate, as we continue looking at the trial of Jesus under the Romans, Pilate was summoned to examine Christ. It wasn't just that Christ, or it's not, I mean, Pilate was summoned. It's not just that Pilate was summoning Christ to examine him. The opposite is going on. Christ, God, has summoned Pilate to examine Jesus, and he summons us today to examine Jesus as well. And as we began looking at it last week, there are really two major obstacles that are going to hinder your truth investigation into Jesus: a desire to maintain religious control or a desire to be at peace with those who despise Jesus or have no real place for him.

5:48One is a religious crime, the other is a political crime. The Jews committed the religious crime. They wanted Autonomy from Jesus. They didn't want his God in their lives. They sought autonomy. Jesus kind of messed up their system. And so they sought to rid Jesus from their lives. They saw Jesus as opposition. That's the sin of religious man. But then there's this other crime that takes on magisterial proportions in our text today, and that is the crime of Pilate. His desire is to be at peace with those who despise Jesus. That's what it is. He wants to be at peace with those who have no room for Jesus in their lives. And so he's playing the politician.

6:48He does not see Jesus as his direct opposition. He sees Jesus as expendable. He sees his conviction about Jesus as expendable as he wants to make friends with those who don't like him. And that's the crime of political man. So let's just pick up where we left off last time. I'll read beginning in verse 33 to the end of the chapter, John 18, beginning in verse 33. Therefore, Pilate entered again into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, Are you saying? This is on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me? Pilate answered, I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm. Therefore, Pilate said to him, So you are a king. Jesus answered, You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Pilate said to him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you wish then that I release for you the king of the Jews? So they cried out again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas.

8:40Not this man, but Barabbas. So what I want us to do this morning is give you the second installment of these magisterial crimes. We looked last week at the magisterial crime of the Jews. This week, I want to look at the magisterial crime of Pilate. And then the reason we're doing this is I want you to be aware of the forces. That Satan used to put Christ on the cross so that you and I will be mindful of them and come under the truth. Do not let these forces, do not let these lies creep in, settle in your heart. Because these are the crimes, these are the sinful deceptions and inclinations that nailed Jesus to the cross, who opposed him, dismissed him.

9:35Let's just walk through it. I'm going to walk through the magisterial crime of Pilate. First of all, look at verse 33 and notice the geographical movement here. Therefore, Pilate entered again into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, Are you king of the Jews? So he's out there because the Jews do not want to enter in, be defiled. They want to eat of the Passover. So Pilate has to go out to them. And then having done that, he then goes back into the praetorium, into the governor's palace's residence, and takes the posture of the judge and begins his examination of Jesus. And he summons Jesus, brings Jesus in, and he asks him the question: Are you the king of the Jews? That's an interesting statement how he says it. It's. It's you, you, the king of the Jews. There's a note of disbelief and probably even a little bit of a letdown. You ever had one of those Fourth of July displays that you put on? I can remember doing this as a little child, buying all these fireworks and building up to the very last one that you've saved, that was going to be the great big finale, and it's a complete dud. You know, that's kind of, and let down. I can remember, well, that's kind of the, but you, I've heard all this about you. I mean, you don't look like a king. You, king of the Jews.

11:20So even though, now keep in mind that Pilate knows the issue that hand. Are you the king of the Jews? Even though the Jews wouldn't answer Pilate's question, you remember back up in verse 29, Pilate went out to them, to the Jews, and said, What accusation do you bring against this man? Verse 30, they answered and said, If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him to him. They don't answer the question. They just basically say, You have to take our word for it. We're holy men. He's evil, and you just have to go with that. You don't even provide an accusation. But when Pilate brings them in, he asks them the important question. Really, he knows, cuts through. The issue. He knows really the matter at hand. Are you the king of the Jews? You, are you king of the Jews?

12:11So the people, now, and obviously, why did Pilate think this? Well, obviously, this is something that's been going on all week. Things have been building up. In John chapter 12, verse 12, as Jesus entered in just a previous week, the people took branches and palm trees. They went out to meet Jesus, and they began to shout, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel. And in verse 14, it's very clear that Jesus wants them to see him as the promised king. And he says in verse 14, Jesus found a donkey and sat on it, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt. So Pilate knew that the Jews were jealous of Jesus. That's Mark 15, 10. The Sanhedrin condemned him under Caiaphas' leadership because he was the Son of God. He claimed to be the Son of God, coming in power, as Daniel 7 gives it, power, coming in that power. That is the reason the Sanhedrin condemns him on the spot, is because he claimed to be this Son of God. Coming to rule and reign. So Pilate clues in. This is the main issue. And look at verse 19, 19. When all is said and done, Pilate, when he crucifies Jesus, has him crucified, and then Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews. This is his crime. This is what gets him on the cross, is being king of the Jews. So Pilate is addressing the main issue, and this main issue is going to go all the way and be inscribed as his crime.

14:10Well, look at Jesus' answer in verse 34. Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me? So Jesus wants to probe. Let me, Pilate, I want you to think through this. What is driving this question in your mind? What's prompting it? What is the origin? Is this something that has come from you, or is this something that others have put in your mind to ask? What is the nature of it? And so Jesus is about to launch this conversation or play into this conversation about Jesus' kingship. But Pilate needs to understand what it means to be king, the nature of Jesus' kingship, because he doesn't, he is his. His mind is very much attached to the world. He's got a very worldly understanding of what a king is and what his kingdom is like. So Jesus begins to direct the conversation. And it's interesting, he does. He does. Just like in other, in the time before Annas and in the time before Caiaphas, Jesus again is the one who's really doing the examining and leading questions. But if it's on your own initiative, Pilate, are you asking this on your own initiative? In other words, are you asking this because you see me as a threat to Roman authority and now your role is to step in as a threat, see me as a threat to Roman authority? Or is it, did others put this in your mind? So if Pilate were asking because the Jews had put it in his mind, then this is a pretty absurd accusation, right? I'm obviously not their king. They handed me over to you. This is not what people do with their king, if they're real if he's really their king. But Jesus knows he is a king. And he wants to give and intends to give and will give Pilate an answer. But Pilate has to understand something about his kingdom. In order to avoid misunderstanding.

16:35So again, Jesus sets the direction for the interrogation. Look at Pilate's response in verse 35. I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done? That's the main question. That's Pilate's, what have you done? Your own people have delivered you up here. They want you to be crucified. What have you done? I am not a Jew. This is not about me. I am not a Jew. I am not the one who started all this. Your own people are against you. So, what's your crime? What's your crime? And that's really the main question that Pilate is asking. What have you done? At least in this first round. Now, in the second round, when he brings them back in, his question changes. Look down at verse 19, 9. And he entered into the praetorium again, Pilate did, and said to Jesus, Where are you from?

17:38So the second round, it's more like, okay, where are you from? Whereas here, it's still, Pilate is curious, what is your crime? What terrible crime have you committed that your own people would deliver you over to me to be crucified? So now Pilate is really curious. He's like, this is, he knows that there's a jealousy. He knows it, but he's like, what have you done? What's behind all this? So look at Jesus' answer in verse 36. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm. My kingdom. My kingdom. And the idea of kingdom here is it's not dealing with the expanse of its subjects as much as it is the ruling authority of the king. When he says, my kingdom, he's not saying, let me tell you about my subjects. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about, let me tell you about my kingship. Let me tell you about my royal power. Let me tell you about my authority. Let me tell you about the nature of my authority. He'll get to the subjects in a little bit. But right now, let me tell you, my kingdom is not of this. My royal power is not of this world. And he says it twice. He says, as it is, my kingdom is not. At the end of verse 36, my kingdom is not of this realm. It's not from here. It's not of this nature. It's not of this origin. My kingship is different than what you're thinking a kingship is. Now, what's a fundamental aspect of worldly kingdoms? Kingships. What's a fund of Jesus? Like, if my kingdom were of this world, guess what? I would have an army. That's a fundamental aspect of worldly kingdoms, right? Military muscle.

19:46If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting for me. I have not assembled an army here. Do you see me with an army here? No. I have not gone out and assembled an army. So anything dealing with the kingdom and my kingship, Pilate, you need to understand it's not according to the way you're accustomed to thinking about kingdoms and kingships. In fact, Jesus refused to assemble an army. They were ready to do so in John 6. Peter's ready to go out and start going to war with his knife.

20:25Must have been a mean, he must have had a lot of confidence, you know, in his take on a Roman cohort with a pocket knife. But Jesus says, no, I gave myself. I came out and met. I am not resisting. So I can tell you, it's obvious my kingdom is not of this order. But notice what he says. He says, if my servants, I mean, if my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over. Over to the who? Did he write there? To the Jews. He doesn't say, I would not be handed over to the Romans. No, he's saying, if my servants would be fighting, so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. You know, it's interesting that if his kingdom were of this world, they would have kept him, his servants would have kept him from being handed over to the Jews.

21:31What did the Jews do? The Jews, your own nation, as Paul, as Pilate says in verse 35, your own nation delivered you to me. It's the same word. Your nation delivered you over to me. And Jesus is saying, Look, if my kingdom were of this world, I would not have been handed over to the Jews. And so he's responding. He says, My servants would have kept me from being handed over to the Jews. I've been handed over to them. So it's pretty obvious that I'm not the Jews' king, right?

22:06You see the contrast there? It's like, look, what an absurdity, they handed me over to you. That's not what subjects do with their king. If they're really loyal to him. So it's an absurd charge. If I were the king of these people, they would not want me crucified. At your hand. Now, that's pretty silly, isn't it? Pretty obvious. I am not king of these people who handed me over. But he did come as the king, the promised king of the Jews.

22:48As he made it very clear. But he's certainly not king over these who handed him over to Rome. So basically, what Jesus is saying is, look, I'm not in a military conflict against Rome. There's no revolution going on here, Pilate. Nor am I fighting against the Jews. So there is no civil war going on here. Really, there's nothing that really involves you having to step in, at least from a political realm. I'm not a king in the way you were thinking.

23:30My kingdom, my kingship, is not of this nature. So, look at what Pilate says, verse 37. Therefore, Pilate said to him, so you are a king. You are a king, right? You just said it. So I think Pilate picks up on the implications of Jesus' words. He understands the silliness of the charge of being king of the Jews, certainly by the people that are launching this. But he picks up on the implications. As the rest of the narrative will make it clear, he does not find Jesus a threat to Rome or involved in civil war with the Jews. But he does seize upon Jesus' statement about a kingship. Aha! So you are a king.

24:23And he's prosecuting, he's examining Jesus, and so, as a good prosecutor would, he wants to investigate this statement further. I want to understand your kingship. I want to understand. You are a king, then, right? Yes. And then what follows is one of the most succinct statements of the nature of Jesus' kingship and why he came into the world. Let's look at this. Verse 37. Therefore, Pilate said, So you are a king. Jesus answered, You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.

25:18Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. And so we come in this portion of John's Gospel to one of the most important concepts. Of the whole gospel, and that's the concept of truth. We've looked at the concept of glory, we've looked at the concept of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth. It's one of the most important concepts that Jesus, that God is going to be looking for worshipers to worship Him in spirit and in truth. So the Spirit of truth is going to be given, but there is truth. There's the reality of truth itself.

26:06Now, if you're looking at this from just a mere Greek understanding of the concept of truth, it's truth, we might think of it as mere truth versus falsehood. No, that's not a true statement, this is a true statement. That's a false statement, this is true. Then there's also the idea of appearance versus reality. We would think from a Greek mindset, or certainly more our mindset today, would be truth as opposed to appearance. So we think of truth in contrast to falsehood or truth as reality versus just mere appearance. But the whole idea of truth, especially as it comes out of the Hebrew mindset, it certainly includes the opposite. Of falsehood, the reality versus appearance, but there's more to it than that. It involves concepts like faithfulness, like trustworthiness, like sureness, like reliability, like dependability, stuff you can set your life upon.

27:20It's not just a concept, it's not just a concept, it's more of something that is dependable. Faithfulness, dependability. It involves something you can count on, not just a philosophical notion, but something you can bank your life upon. That's truth. And as we've gone through this gospel, the metaphor of light is really about truth. The metaphor, light, is speaking about truth. Light is the metaphor to truth. Remember, light, we talked about this earlier when we were in some of the earlier chapters of John. If we turned out every light in this room and we could get it to where it was completely pitch black and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, and certainly if you go into deep caves, you can find such dark places where you can't see even your hand in front of your face. Face, well, if we could block out all the light in here, the realities would still be in here, the chairs would still be here, everything would be here. We just couldn't see it. And so, what light does is it's a medium that brings the viewer in contact with the view. So, when the light goes on, all of this is here, we can just now see it. Well, that's the metaphor of light. Well, truth is the reality, truth is the reality, and truth, Jesus, is the incarnate truth, and Jesus is the medium that brings the viewer in view of God. Jesus is the one who makes the unseen God visible.

29:21He is truth. That is what truth is. And Jesus personifies truth. Just real quickly, if you remember in chapter 14, Jesus says this in verse 1: Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How in the world can we know? The way. Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. I am the way to God. I am the truth of God. I am the life of God. I am truth. And so, what truth is, what Jesus is saying here is, I am the one who discloses reality, God's reality, the only reality that there is. I am the revelation of God. I am the revelation of the one who is.

30:36Now, you remember the events of the first Passover, or the events leading up to the first Passover? Remember, the Jews are, or Israel is in captivity in Exodus 3. Exodus 3:13, you know, of course, God has come to Moses and is going to send him out to deliver his people. All those events are going to culminate in the first Passover. In Exodus 13, 3.13, Moses said to God, Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel and will say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you. Now they may say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am. I am has sent me to you, the one who is.

31:36You see, God is. That's the name. God is. He exists. He is. And reality takes its form because God is. Reality takes its form because God is. Who is God, or who God is, or what he does and how he sees things? This is reality. He is God. Reality is as he sees it, as he is omnipotent. He directs everything. He is omniscient. Reality is as he sees it. And so reality takes its form because God is. And here's Jesus, who is the reality of the Passover. Now, keep in mind, the Lamb was just the appearance of the reality. The Lamb, the Passover Lamb, is the appearance of the reality. Here's Jesus at another Passover, on a Passover, they're saying, you know, basically, I am the reality of the Passover. The Lamb is just the appearance, Jesus, the reality. And he's basically telling Pilate, I am the I am in human disclosure. That's who I am. I am truth. Yes, I am the King. I am. A king, and those interested in reality listen to me.

33:06Those who want to know what's really going on, those who want to know how God sees things, listen to me. Those who are genuinely interested in truth, as opposed to falsehood, truth, not just appearance, but reality. Truth, that which is sure, that which is reliable, that which is dependable. Anyone who is interested in these things listens to me. That's what basically Jesus is saying. You cannot know God's reality unless you listen to the one He has sent.

33:49So those who listen to the truth are the ones who are under Jesus' kingship. Do you see that? I am truth, is what Jesus is saying. Those who come under my dominion are those who listen to truth. Those who prefer falsehood, whether in speech or in mind or whatever, are not my children, are not under my dominion. That's why it comes back to that question: who is your king? Is truth your king? You may not be who you think you are if you're content to walk. Walk in any form of falsehood.

34:36So, the right response to God is to bow the heart to truth, specifically truth revealed in Jesus. So, Jesus is making it very plain that the Jews who handed him over were not of the truth. The Jews who handed Jesus over were not of truth. But now the focus is on Pilate. Pilate, now you're examining me. Will you listen to truth? Will he pick up on the invitation? There's an invitation of Jesus saying to Pilate, Do you want to come under my kingship? Are you interested in the truth?

35:21Will Pilate pick up on Jesus' invitation and come under the truth and listen to this king of truth? Or will he kill his conscience and seek to appease those who wanted Jesus out of their lives? Will he follow the evidence? Or will he follow political expediency? And that's the question we have to ask ourselves. Will we follow the evidence of where it takes us? Will we be let truth? Will we come under the truth? Or will we commit the crime of religious man? And not make room for Jesus? Or will we commit the crime of a political man and compromise or expend Jesus for the sake of relationship? Well, what's Pilate going to do? We'll look at verse 38. Pilate said to him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no guilt in him. What is truth? Kind of a high point in John's Gospel. What is truth?

36:34Now, Jesus has already effectively answered Pilate's main question: What have you done? Jesus has answered, I have borne witness to the truth. I continue to bear witness to the truth right before you, right now, and I will continue to bear witness to the truth as I go to the cross, through the grave, and into glory, and come again as the Son of Man. I bear witness to the truth. That is what I have done. I testified that this world's deeds are evil. That's why they hated me. That's why I'm here. You see, revealing sin, revealing God's intense hatred of sin, is costly. To come to the cross.

37:23Bearing witness to the truth is costly. Revealing God's love for humanity. Was costly. But Pilate just abruptly ended the conversation. What is truth? What is truth? There's a lot of different opinions. Is Pilate joking here? Is Pilate engaged in some deep, pensive, philosophical reflection? What is truth? No. He's not a philosopher. He's a politician. He's wanting to move things on. I don't find anything noble in his question. He may have been convicted, but whatever the situation, he quickly silenced the moment.

38:14He simply moved things on. He didn't want to come under the truth. He didn't want to listen anymore. He just was convinced in his mind Jesus was innocent, and he moves on, at least innocent of the crimes. So look back. What is truth? Abruptly ends the conversation. And when he said this, he went out to the Jews again. So he comes out of the praetorium, back out to the Jews where they are, and says to them, I find no guilt in him. I find no guilt in him.

38:54So here's Pilate after his initial examination. He's innocent. In fact, the language is pretty. Strong here. Nothing I am finding, nothing I am discovering. It's the word Eureka. There is nothing that I am coming upon after much searching in him that is a cause for complaint. It's like I've examined him, and the conclusion is I find nothing. After searching, I find nothing in him that is a cause of complaint or guilt. There's no basis for an accusation. He's not an evildoer.

39:36He is no revolutionary, that's for sure. And he is no, I see no evidence that he's a worker of evil as the Jews are saying. So Jesus is very much, and Pilate has convinced himself he's innocent. Well, that should end the trial, right? That should be it. Pilate did his examination. If the system went the way it was supposed to go, that would end the trial. But it doesn't, does it? What follows is a colossal miscarriage of justice, a crime that I refer to as a crime of magisterial proportions. He should have let him go.

40:30Verse 39. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you wish then that I release for you the king of the Jews? So Pilate wants to let him go. He finds no fault in him, but he wants to appease the Jews. That's what's going on in Pilate's heart. He wants the best of both worlds. He wants to see, okay, well, Jesus is innocent, so I want to let him go. And yet, I want to appear to be on good terms or make some kind of concessions to the Jews. And there's a long history that Pilate had with the Jews. I won't get into it, but he obviously was a tenuous situation there, and wanting to appear to look good in the eyes of the Caesar and his superiors. He was given the task to take care of Jerusalem and wanted to do a good job maintaining peace, maintaining order, showing himself as a competent governor, all that.

41:40And yet, he engages in a little game of politics here. He certainly sees Jesus as expendable. Justice isn't what needs to prevail. Truth doesn't need to prevail, but I can give Jesus up if it gives me some kind of level of. Temporary appeasement with these Jews. And so he makes a very unjust proposition. And maybe, maybe he does so because he wants to release Jesus and he thinks that he can, if he could support, if he could get the support of the crowds, because there's more than just the chief priests now, there's crowds out there, and maybe if he could win the favor of the people, bring Jesus out, who he knew was popular with the people, maybe he could gain some kind of political support with the crowds. Whatever the case, there's this custom of releasing a prisoner. And that would have been a gesture of goodwill, especially at these high times like a Passover, where there are so many. It might have been an act of goodwill that helped maintain good relations with the masses during Passover.

43:02And certainly, a prisoner being freed fits very nicely with the whole concept of Passover. But the problem with Pilate's proposition is that Jesus was not a convicted prisoner. He was simply a man on trial. And so he said, I'll take this prisoner. Really, it should be, what prisoner do you want me to let go? That was the custom. But Jesus is. Just a man on trial. So both the law and custom are being violated here. And all because of political expediency. Pilate wants to be friends with those who have no room for Jesus in their life. And so to make that friendship, he's ready to let Jesus go. He sees Jesus as expendable. That's the sin of the political man.

44:06Have you ever compromised Jesus's name because you wanted to get along with somebody or some people or some institution? We're far more familiar with what Pilate has done than maybe we care to admit. Well, look at verse 40. So they cried out again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber. He was a notorious insurrectionist, as Mark 15:7. The very thing that they are accusing Jesus of, Barabbas was convicted of. There's a hypocrisy there.

45:00Well, the response was probably not what Pilate was expecting. He played the political game, and when you play the politics, eventually you're going to be outmaneuvered. And certainly that happens to Pilate. The narrative is how he is really outmaneuvered by the Jews and puts Christ upon the cross as an appeasement. And so he compromises truth. Evidence that he also is not a child under kingship of Jesus. He is not a child of truth. Neither were the religious Jews, and neither is Pilate.

45:53And as we look at this, we need to be careful of the politician in us. A desire to expend Jesus for the sake of being well thought of or the sake of preserving relationships or advancements or to save faiths or whatever. Let us not find Jesus is expendable because truth is never expendable. Truth is truth. So it brings me back to that original question: is truth your king? You know, Pilate couldn't find his life by looking out for himself, and neither will you, and neither will I.

46:42We discover life when we discover the truth and we come under truth's reign. That's the nature of his kingdom. That's how he makes subjects, hearing the truth and coming under his reign to let our minds think his thoughts. That is coming under, believing his words, believing who he is. You see, our world is locked in persistent rebellion against its creator. That's the world in which Pilate was a king, or certainly a governor in. And the rebellion of this world manifests itself by refusing to listen to the truth. That's the manifestation of who is your king. Do you want to listen to the truth and bring yourself under? Is truth your king?

47:45The way you come out is by believing the truth. The truth of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus. That is reliable, that is sure, that is dependable. Well, one day you are. And I are going to pass out of this world. And you will meet the one, and I will meet the one who is perfectly holy, who is absolutely just, and comprehensively knows everything about us. That's going to be you, and that's going to be me. Now, my question to you is: will your heart run to him, or will your heart run away from him?

48:34That's the difference between spiritual life and spiritual death. Spiritual death takes flight. In fact, if you do appear before the judgment, guess what? You're going to be like a frightened animal in a cage that cannot get free, that wants to, everything in you wants to flee, but you can't, you must stay. And then, as the sentence, as the truth is made known, your heart and you release, you run, you flee. It's a fleeing. It's out of the presence of the light. The very presence of the light compels flight.

49:19But then there are going to be those who run to him. Now, think about a kingship. As we're thinking about truth, any kingship exercises dominion. Right, there is salvation under any kingship. There is also condemnation under any kingship. Now, if you're thinking about truth as a kingship, guess what? There are those who are going to be condemned by the truth. Reality of the situation, the reality of their lives, the reality is going to come upon them like a lightning bright light.

50:00And they will be condemned by it, frightened, flee eternally, and to suffer the lash of their own conscience and own guilt and penalty of separation. But then there are those who are saved by the truth. There are those who are saved by the truth. What is the evidence that truth is your king? Well, if truth is your king, guess what? You will believe the work and the words of Jesus. Jesus Himself says it as such. Do you believe? Are you shaped by? Do you really believe the words and work of Jesus? You will believe that he is the only way that you can possibly be admitted into a perfectly holy place by a perfectly holy judge who comprehensively knows everything about you and your history. I mean, how is it? How is it that? That I know that I can enter into a completely holy place by a perfect judge who comprehensively knows me and all that I have done and all that I have thought. How is it that I can flee into, not away from him, but flee into his presence, run to him? How is it that I can have a heart that does that?

51:32The answer is: I've heard the good news and have believed it. Jesus has manifested the mechanism by which I can enter into a perfectly holy place, judged by a perfectly righteous judge who comprehensively knows all the details of my life because I know there has been payment made for my sins. I know the goodness. I know the motivation of my heavenly Father. I have been told, I believe, from truth itself, truth himself. That's the difference. Flight or running to him or running away from him. That's the difference between spiritual death and spiritual life, believing the good news. And when you believe the good news, you come under the subject.

52:30A subject of the king who is truth. Well, let's avoid the sins of religion, the sins of politics. They butchered the truth. They mutilated the man of truth. Let us flee every vestige of trying to maintain some kind of religious control over our lives. Let's give up all autonomy and give our lives over to Jesus. Let us avoid every desire to be at peace with those who despise Jesus. We're summoned to examine Jesus just as Pilate was summoned.

53:24Let us be aware of our own human inclinations that Satan would prey on to cause us to butcher truth and dismiss it. But let us come under truth. Let us first accept what Jesus says about us. Yes, you testify that we are sinners. Yes, I can agree with that. He also testifies that there is a mechanism by which sin can be forgiven. I believe that. And so I come under. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the truth. Of your word. Thank you for the incarnate truth of your Son. Father, thank you that we may be a people who can flee the tyranny of falsehood, the tyranny of lies, and be free and come under the beautiful and loving dominion of your truth and your words. Thank you.