John 18:12-19:16 - Christ Died Rejected
Main Idea: Will you choose to follow the rejected Savior, Jesus Christ?
PETER CHOSE COMFORT & SAFETY OVER JESUS
Will you choose to follow Jesus when it causes you discomfort?
THE PRIESTS CHOSE TRADITIONS & RITUALS OVER JESUS
Will you choose to follow Jesus when it conflicts with your past beliefs or your life’s habits?
PILATE CHOSE POWER & SECURITY OVER JESUS
Will you choose to follow Jesus when it places you at odds with others politically, or endangers your wallet, position, or even your life?
THE PEOPLE CHOSE SIN & SELF-RULE OVER JESUS
Will you choose to follow Jesus when it means that you can’t say or do the wrong things you used to that brought you satisfaction or joy?
Sermon Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)
Today, we are going to be in Chapter 18, and Verse Number 12 through Chapter 19, and Verse Number 16. Today, the sermon title is Christ Died Rejected. We're going to start first, we're going to pray.
Then I'm going to give you a little intro. We'll dive into the passage itself. And the main thought that I want us to see today is, will you choose to follow the rejected Savior, Jesus Christ?
You get the choice. And whether you are lifelong Christian, whether you're just now kind of interacting with your faith journey, the question still goes out to you as it did to Peter, the priests, to Pilate, and to the people.
What will you do with Jesus? Let's pray together, and then we'll dive in. Dear Lord, we pray today for your word to speak to us.
Lord, thank you for your Holy Spirit, through whom we can know and understand the word of God. We pray that the entrance of your word would give us light. Lord, we pray that you would speak to our hearts specifically today.
Lord, you did not have us here by accident. There is something in our walk and relationship with Jesus that you want to work on even today. And so, God, I pray that our spirits would be open to hearing from you.
Lord, I pray for anyone here today that does not yet know you as their Savior, that today would be the day that they choose to follow Jesus. Lord, I ask for maybe some people that have walked with you before, but have been stumbling.
God, I pray that they would see that they can get back on, that they can continue on that path with you. And Lord, may your grace and your forgiveness be clearly seen in what we look at this morning. Pray all of this in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
2:03
The Choice Principle
Today, what we're going to be looking at and what we'll see in the passage is the difference between choosing something and rejecting it. Choosing something or rejecting it. Fruit, for some people, is something that they really enjoy.
But if it's rotten fruit, you're going to choose to reject it. It's got things in there that are not tasty, they are not good to eat, it could even poison you. We're going to reject rotten fruit.
We might see an item, whether at the store or online, you might get an ad on Facebook and you go, Man, I really am interested in this item. And then you see the price tag on it, and you go, nope, I'm rejecting this. This is not something that I want.
I know we have a few people in our church, even some people that are gone today, that when they see a roller coaster, they know other people really like roller coasters, but they would reject it. They'd say, no, I've got vertigo.
This is not my cup of tea. I really dislike the roller coasters that, I don't know it's technically a roller coaster, but it'll take you straight up, and then at whatever time the good Lord chooses, it drops. I can't, I can't do that.
That is not my style. We have lots of things in our life that we make judgment calls on choosing or rejecting those things.
And in today's passage, we will see four groups of people be presented with the opportunity to choose Jesus, or to choose their own way. And through these, I want to ask you and I today, will we choose to follow the rejected Savior, Jesus Christ?
We've got a number of verses that we're going through today, so I encourage you, open up your Bibles. We'll also have the Word of God on the screens as we go through.
These are the trials that John highlights for us, so that we would believe we would choose Jesus as our Savior.
4:05
Arrest and Denial
We read this in verse number 12, Then the company of soldiers, this would be a Roman contingent, the commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus and tied him up. That's where we left off last Sunday in the Garden of Gethsemane.
First, they led him to Annas, since he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year.
So there was a whole mess of a situation going on with the priesthood in Israel, and especially the High Priesthood in Israel during the first century.
Basically, if you look back at Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy, God had set it up where one of the descendants of Aaron would be the High Priest, and until he passed and his son, or kind of nearest kin, would become the new High Priest, it went
through succession in that way. Well, Rome decided that it wanted to do its own thing with the priesthood, and so they would at times depose certain High Priests and install someone new.
So Annas had been High Priest, had been removed as High Priest of Rome, or as High Priest by Rome, and Caiaphas, his son-in-law, had been installed instead.
Now, the Jewish people, they were not cool with just whatever Rome wanted to do, and so Annas still held a lot of esteem and respect within that community.
So they take Jesus first, not to the High Priest, but to the High Priest father-in-law who is still considered to be the more legitimate High Priest by most of the people.
Caiaphas, so the son-in-law of the guy they're taking him to, was the one who had advised the Jews in chapter 7 that it would be better for one man to die for the people. Simon Peter was following Jesus, as was another disciple.
Now, this other disciple we believe to be John, he doesn't name himself at any point throughout the gospel of John.
He always says, like, the one that Jesus loved, or the other disciple, or the other disciple outran Peter to the tomb, as we heard several weeks ago.
That disciple, John, was an acquaintance of the high priest, so he went with Jesus into the high priest courtyard.
So, though there's an initial scattering of all the disciples, and they leave Jesus, you still have John and Peter, two of the three kind of closest to the Lord, that are following along.
John is going a little bit further, and we read in verse number 16, but Peter remains standing outside by the door. So, the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the girl who was the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in.
So, John's going in, he's nosy, he wants to know what's going on with his trial, what's going to happen to Jesus.
Peter's standing outside the door, and John sends the servant girl to be like, hey, go get that guy that's just standing at the door, and tell him to come on in.
Verse number 17, then the servant girl, who was the doorkeeper, said to Peter, hey, you aren't one of this man's disciples too, are you? I am not, he said. Okay, number one, is that true?
No, although in this moment, you could argue he's not being a very good disciple if he's disavowing his Lord. But I also notice here, she says, you aren't one of this man's disciples too, are you?
So there seems to be an understanding, yeah, John is one of the disciples of Jesus, and Peter, she asks like, hey, are you with him? He's asking me to bring you inside, so are you one of the disciples of the Lord?
If you remember back in John 13, where we were in March, we read this in verse number 36, as the verses that I just read during communion. As Jesus tells the disciples, like I told the Jews, I'm going where you cannot follow.
Lord, Simon Peter said to him, where are you going? Jesus answered, where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later. Lord, Peter asked, why can't I follow you now?
I will lay down my life for you. Jesus replied, will you lay down your life for me? Truly I tell you, a rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times.
So here is this fulfillment of what Jesus had said. Jesus knew the future. He knew everything that was going to happen, and he knew this denial by Peter would take place.
Now, verse number 18, the servants and the officials had made a charcoal fire because it was cold. They were standing there warming themselves, and Peter was standing with them, warming himself.
Now, John takes a break from what's happening with Peter, so leave Peter sitting by the fire with some of the people that had arrested Jesus. Now, we go into the room, where now John is there and he's seeing what's happening.
The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. If I was John, I'd be a little nervous as the high priest is going like, hey, what are you teaching these guys? What is the game plan that you guys have?
We think that you're going to stir up the people, that Rome is going to come and crush Israel once again. So he's questioning him about the disciples and about his teaching. I've spoken openly in the world to the world, Jesus answered him.
I've always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews gather, and I haven't spoken to anything in secret. Jesus says, there's no secret plan for me to usurp Rome. There's no plans for us to conquer the temple.
None of that is taking place. Verse number 21, He asked the high priest, Why do you question me? Question those who heard what I told them.
Look, they know what I said. So Jesus, in effect, tells Annas, You want to know what my mission is? Go talk to the people who have heard me preach.
When he'd said these things, one of the officials standing by slapped Jesus, saying, Is this the way you answer the high priest? If I've spoken wrongly, Jesus answered him, Give evidence about the wrong. But if rightly, why do you hit me?
This was something that was not allowed under Judaic and Pharisaic law. Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. So he's like, all right, I'm not getting anything out of this guy.
You're going to the son-in-law and the son-in-law and the Sanhedrin, the kind of Supreme Court of Israel during that time. They will deal with you. Now, so Jesus has said, you want to know what my life and ministry teaching is?
Go talk to those who've heard me. Now we're zooming in on one of those that heard Jesus. Simon Peter was standing and warming himself.
They said to him, you weren't one of his disciples too, are you? He denied it and said, I am not. One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, didn't I see you with him in the garden?
Now he's like, no, no, I saw you. You are definitely one of those disciples. Peter denied it again, immediately a rooster crowed.
One of the details that we would get in one of the other gospels, John kindly omits it here, is that this third denial was met with Peter cursing and saying, I do not know the guy, and cursing in order to prove that he was not one of Jesus'
disciples. disciples.
11:53
Pilateʼs Interrogation
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.
So here's kind of the journey Jesus took from Gethsemane. So from Gethsemane, went to Annas' house, who was considered to be the, like, legitimate Israeli high priest.
Annas didn't get anything out of Jesus, so he sent him over to Caiaphas and to the Sanhedrin. Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, they declared Jesus guilty of blasphemy. You can read about that in Matthew, Mark, and Luke's Gospel.
Then, from Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, Jesus was then sent over to Pilate, the Roman governor's headquarters. This was because during that time, under Roman occupation, the Sanhedrin was not allowed to kill anyone.
They weren't allowed to sentence anyone to death.
When they did so, a couple of years later, with Stephen, one of those first deacons at the early church in Jerusalem, it was not due to approval from Rome, it was due to kind of like a mob riot that had occurred.
So, they are bringing Jesus to Pilate, so that he will have Jesus killed. But I notice here in verse 48, pardon me, they did not enter the headquarters themselves, otherwise they would be defiled and unable to eat the Passover.
I want you to think about the irony of that statement real quick. They're looking to murder an innocent man, to murder the Son of God.
Now, do you think them going into a Gentile house is going to be any more defiling than the murder and rejection of God himself? No.
Here they are very insistent on their traditions and their rituals, but with a complete lack of understanding of the relationship that God had called them to have.
And as we think about Jesus, the Passover lamb, the bread and the cup that we just partook of, they were in fact defiled and unable to eat the Passover. Verse 29, So Pilate came out to them and said, What charge do you bring against this man?
Like why do you want me to kill him? They answered him, If this man weren't a criminal, we wouldn't have handed him over to you. Is that a good answer to what is the crime?
No. Pilate told them, You take him and judge him according to your law. He's like, okay, then you guys deal with him if you have a problem with him.
It's not legal for us to put anyone to death, the Jews declared. They said this so that Jesus' words might be fulfilled indicating what kind of death he was going to die.
John told us in John 3 and another location, Jesus talked about himself being lifted up so that all would see who he is.
That crucifixion death was the death that was prophesied in the word of God, even as the next sermon, Psalm 22, talks about his hands being pierced, as David had prophesied in Psalm 22.
Verse 33 says, Then Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned Jesus, and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews?
He thinks that maybe this is some upstart, like a Judas Maccabeus or like a David or a Saul of old, one guy that's going to throw out the foreign invaders and lead Israel to their own unique kingdom again.
Jesus answered, Are you asking this, that I'm the king of the Jews? Are you asking this on your own, or have others told you about me? I'm not a Jew, am I?
Pilate replied. Your own nation and the chief priest handed you over to me. What have you done?
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.
Jesus says, basically, I'm no threat to Rome. I am not seeking to create a physical kingdom in the here and now. Now, everyone, eyes on me.
Very, very important. I consistently, in my work as a pastor, I get to see people over and over again, make a mistake, that they ignore what Jesus says here. And their desire is, we're going to make a giant kingdom of Jesus in the here and now.
And they seek to, through coercive, through violent means, establish the rule of God in the here and now. Jesus makes it very explicit. My kingdom is not of this world.
So while we seek to obey and to follow the Lord, while we seek to obey His laws, we do not violently coerce anyone else into doing the same.
As you look at human history, and especially history over the last 2,000 years, anytime the church resorts to the sword or fines in order to accomplish the work that only the Holy Spirit can do, it ends up defaming the name of God over and over
again. Jesus gave us His word and His spirit. He did not give us a sword. That's what we saw last week with Peter cutting off the ear of Malchus.
And Jesus says, absolutely not. My way is the way of sacrifice and surrender. It is not the way of control.
You are a king then, Pilate asked. So your kingdom is not from this world, but you are a king? You say that I am 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. That is, those that harken to God's truth, as we learn in John 14, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
Those that listen to the voice of truth are those that listen to Jesus. Pilate then gets super philosophical. What is truth?
said Pilate. After he said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, I find no grounds for charging him. 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? So Pilate, the political power of the day, says, I have no reason to kill Jesus. Coming back to the Jews, I'm telling them that I have no reason to kill him.
It's normal that I release a prisoner for you guys during this holy week of Passover. And so, do you want me to release Jesus back to you?
18:47
Barabbas Chosen and Jesus Mocked
They shouted back, not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a revolutionary. He was one of the ones that was violently trying to overthrow Rome during that first century in Israel.
These would be the guys attempting to kill the centurions and the Roman soldiers and the tax collectors. And so, Barabbas was one of these guys. He was a murderer, is what we're told in the other Gospels.
I also love, even in Barabbas' name, it's made up of two parts, bar or son of, and then abbess, the father. That Barabbas is the one who is the son of the father is literally what his name means, or you have Jesus, the son of certainly our father.
And so, here is this choice between Jesus and Barabbas, and the people shout, they want the revolutionary Barabbas. They want the one whose kingdom is of this world, not the spiritual king. Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.
The soldiers also twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and clothed him in a purple robe. My bad. I thought I had closed that and had to not.
Here, there is a mocking that's taking place, that they say, all right, you're the king of the Jews, so let's get you a crown. Let's get you an expensive, a purple robe that is there. These thorns would be about 18 inches long.
You can look at pictures of these thorns in Israel. They are gnarly. This would have inflicted a lot of blood loss from Jesus.
It would be immensely painful during this time period. And Roman soldiers were exceptionally good at flogging. They prided themselves on ripping skin and drawing blood with every single whip that they did.
And they kept coming up to him and saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And were slapping his face. The regular Roman kind of greeting that they would give would be, Hail, Caesar, is the phrase that they would often use.
And here, Hail, King of the Jews, is mocking him, saying, In essence, you are no real king unlike the real king of the world, Caesar. I want to take just a moment. Think about what Jesus went through on your behalf and on my behalf.
Here, not even yet fully condemned to death. We'll get there in a couple of verses. But Jesus was rejected, condemned, abandoned.
His closest friends denied even knowing him. He had the crown of thorns dug into his skull, beaten. We're told in Isaiah 53 that the stripes that brought us peace were placed on him.
We're also told in Isaiah 53 that after Jesus experienced all of the hardships there, especially of the Roman beating, that you couldn't even recognize him. It's hardly recognizable as a man due to what he went through.
When Satan tries to tell you that you have sinned far too much for God to ever forgive you, or that you can't really be restored into relationship with him, I want you to picture this Jesus who went through all of this, as we learned last week, not
by accident, not because anyone forced him into it. He had the power to stop it and refused to so that we could experience forgiveness, so that what we deserved in separation from God, what we deserved in our own physical death, Jesus took on
himself. himself.
22:58
Pilateʼs Surrender
Pilate went outside again and said to them, Look, I'm bringing him out to you to let you know I find no grounds for charging him. This is an innocent man is the claim that Pilate is saying.
Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, Here is the man. And they looked on him.
They looked at this beaten and bloodied man who had only ever preached the good news, who had been there for the afflicted, the lepers, the blind, even those parents that had lost their children, and he raised them to life again.
And they looked at this man. And when the chief priests and the temple servants saw him, they shouted, Crucify! Crucify!
Pilate responded, Take him and crucify him yourselves, since I find no grounds for charging him. We have a law, the Jews replied to him, and according to that law, he ought to die, because he made himself the son of God.
Contra the claims of many people today, those in the first century, the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees, they knew the claim that Jesus was making, that as he said, I am God the Son, I am the Son of God, he made himself equal with
God. This was an offensive claim to them, as they refused to hear what Jesus said, they refused to believe the miracles that they saw with their own eyes. When Pilate heard this statement, he was more afraid than ever.
In Roman theology, they would often have the gods come down and cause all sorts of mischief, and so for him to hear, a son of God is here, would make him nervous. He went back into the headquarters and asked Jesus, where are you from?
But Jesus did not give him an answer. So Pilate said to him, do you refuse to speak to me? Don't you know that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you?
And Jesus, beaten, bloodied, and exhausted, said, you'd have no authority over me at all. Jesus answered him, if it hadn't been given you from above, this is why the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.
All human authority is subject to God's divine authority. And no human edict can ever be done apart from our God's allowance.
Now, sometimes that allowance is for our harm and our detriment, that God gives foolish rulers to people so that nations would be brought low and be humbled and seek the Lord. But all authority is subject to God's authority.
From that moment, Pilate kept trying to release him, but the Jews shouted, if you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Anyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.
So they basically say, you are rebelling against Rome if you release Jesus. When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside. He sat down on the judge's seat in a place called the stone pavement, but in Aramaic, it was called Gabapha.
It was the preparation day for the Passover, and it was about, here the Christian Standard Bible has noon. The more accurate rendering is the sixth hour, which the Romans had from midnight to midnight. So this would be 6 a.m.
Then he told the Jews, here is your king. They shouted, take him away, take him away, crucify him. Pilate said to them, should I crucify your king, the one who's in charge of you, the one who you ought to worship and obey?
And they said, we have no king but Caesar, the chief priest answered. Then he handed him over to be crucified. Then they took Jesus away.
Today, we see this Jesus.
27:03
Your Daily Choice
I want us, as we close, we're going to look at these four groups of people and what they chose over Jesus. Peter chose comfort and safety over Jesus.
When presented with the options of identifying as one of Christ's disciples and possibly being put on trial with Jesus, or simply being an unknown person with no affiliation with Jesus, Peter chose the safe route.
He would rather leave Jesus alone in his shame and his suffering than join him. What about you? When do you choose to take your Christian hat off?
Is it at your workplace? Is it when you get together with old friends? Will you choose to follow Jesus when it causes you discomfort?
Secondly, today, the priests chose traditions and rituals over Jesus. The priests were faced with the choice of believing and obeying what God the Son was saying, or going by their own preconceived notions and habits.
They would rather Jesus not change any of the things they believed to be true about their religion, their political environment, or their own behaviors or habits.
Today, will you choose to follow Jesus when it conflicts with your past beliefs or your life's habits? Love the story of Nibial Qureshi, a brother in the Lord who passed about nine years ago now.
He was a devout Muslim who both through a dream and then through further conversations with him and a Christian believer. He chose to follow Jesus at university, leaving behind his family's faith that they had experienced for generations.
Or I think several hundred years back of Martin Luther, a scared pastor who read the Book of Romans and learned about Jesus' payment for sin instead of trying to pay for it himself.
And he left behind centuries of past tradition and beliefs in favor of what God had clearly shown. Pilate chose power and security over Jesus.
Pilate was faced with the choice of releasing an innocent man or ensuring political stability and making angry crowds happy. He chose a secure, easy position that would cost him nothing except the loss of his own soul.
Today, will you choose to follow Jesus when it places you at odds with others politically or endangers your wallet, your position, or even your life? Kate Forbes was a candidate for Prime Minister of Scotland.
And after she stated her belief in what scripture said about human sexuality and the sexual ethic that Christians are called to, she ended up losing the election after losing several key political endorsements.
Or there was a man, Stockwell Day, back in 2000, who was running for Prime Minister of Canada. And due to his belief in what scripture said about the creation of the world and his belief in that, he lost his race.
These politicians chose to stand with the Lord and believe his word. Pilate here chose to follow his own way. He chose the people to be happy with him at the loss of his own soul.
And lastly, the people chose sin and self-rule over Jesus.
The people had the option between choosing to set an innocent man free, which was actually the choice Rome wanted them to make, or they could do things their own way with their political solutions like Barabbas and with their religious structure with
the Sanhedrin and the Sadducees and Pharisees. Will you choose to follow Jesus when it means that you can no longer say or do the wrong things that you used to that brought you satisfaction or joy? Today, the choice comes in front of you guys.
You can choose Jesus or comfort and safety. Jesus or traditions and rituals. Jesus or power and security.
Jesus or your own sin and self-rule. Today, who are you picking to run your life? Peter chose himself over identifying with Jesus.
The priests and the Pharisees, they chose their way over Jesus. Pilate chose the people's approval over God's. And the people at large chose Jesus over Barabbas.
Or sorry, put that. They chose Barabbas over Jesus. Today, what are you going to choose?
Tomorrow you get the choice between Jesus calling the shots in your life, or your anger, your frustration, your lack of self-control.
Each of us, every single day of our life, we get to make the choice, do I follow Jesus, this rejected Savior, or do I follow my own way? Can I challenge you?
Choose to follow the one who died for you, the one who bled for you, the one who, as we'll see in a couple weeks, rose again for us. It's always the right choice, even if it's not the popular choice.
