King Demands Your Life, Your All

I'll get you to open this morning for us in John chapter 18. And I just have a few things that I would like to share with us as we reflect on this time. We all love a good cop show, don't we? I love the show Law and Order. Maybe you remember the other classic NYPD Blue.

Perhaps if you're a millennial, you like Brooklyn Nine Nine. One of the most satisfying things about these shows is when the bad guy confesses at the end. We've watched the show unfold, we've seen the twists and the turns in the story, how the police chase after someone that's committed a horrible crime, and then at the end, we see the bad guy apprehended. And usually with a clever bit of evidence that has been gathered, they absolutely seal the fate of this bad guy. And you wait for that sweet, sweet moment when the person confesses to the crime, explaining the motives or the method of how they've done it.

It is just so satisfying. It keeps me coming back for more. Well, this morning, we're going to read about a confession interview of sorts. It's between a man named Pilate who was at the time a Roman governor of controlled Judea, Roman-controlled Judea at the time, and a man also in that same room with him, a man accused of starting a revolt, of blaspheming the God of the Jews.

And his name, of course, is Jesus. And so we're going to read this interview, this confession process from John 18, starting from verse 33. John chapter 18 verse 33. So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, do you say this of your own accord or did others say it to you about me?

Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.

But my kingdom is not from this world. Then Pilate said to him, so you are a king. Jesus answered, you say that I am a king. For this purpose, I was born and for this purpose, I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.

Pilate said to him, what is truth? After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? They cried out again, not this man, but Barabbas.

Now Barabbas was a robber. Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him saying, hail, king of the Jews, and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, see, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.

So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, behold the man. When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and crucify him for I find no guilt in him. The Jews answered him, we have a law and according to that law, he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.

When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, you will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?

Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. From then on, Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the Stone Pavement and in Aramaic, Gabbatha.

Now it was the day of the preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, behold your king. They cried out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king?

The chief priest answered, we have no king but Caesar. So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So far, our reading. The exchange we find here between Pilate and Jesus would be the examination that led to the crucifixion of Jesus that very same day. But unlike our favourite cop shows, we see the line of questioning, the process of questioning was far from satisfying for Pilate.

At the end of his time with Jesus, there was no confession made. In fact, there were no straight answers given seemingly. If it had been my favourite cop show, the episode would have ended on a very unsatisfying note. And yet Jesus was speaking very clearly, saying things that made perfect sense about what was about to take place. Where Pilate thought Jesus spoke in riddles, Jesus spoke sharply and truly.

So this morning, as we reflect on the moment of Good Friday, the day of Jesus' crucifixion, I'd like to reflect with you a little bit on the exchange between Jesus and Pilate, focusing especially on the three interactions, the three moments of questioning between them. And we will see that Pilate's line of questioning is made with particular motivations behind them, questions and motives that some of us may even have in our own hearts, trying to figure out who Jesus is and what his plans are. And so, in the first bit of dialogue, we find Pilate asking Jesus a question to understand. Firstly, are you a threat to me and my power? In verse 33, Pilate asks Jesus, are you the king of the Jews?

Jesus responds in turn, do you want to know this for yourself? Or is it because others have told you this is my claim? Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world. And so we see that the first question Pilate asked Jesus has a hidden motive. It's a motive for self preservation, in fact.

He asked Jesus if he is the king of the Jewish people. Now we have to understand Pilate had been sent to Jerusalem to oversee the peaceful rule of the Jewish people in the Roman Empire. But history tells us that the Jewish people were far from compliant with this idea. Time and time again, the Jewish people revolted against Roman rule. And often, they sprang up these revolutions led by very charismatic influential people.

And so it was the job of people like Pilate to suppress these revolts. And so we find a cautious, guarded Pilate who wants to know, are you going to threaten my rule over Judea? Do you think of yourself as a king who will rise up against me? And I think in that moment, Jesus understands that motive. Jesus understands Pilate's question.

It isn't to ascertain the validity of the accusation that was made against Jesus, that Jesus somehow falsely claimed to be the king of the Jewish people, and therefore deserved punishment under the law. Pilate isn't purely interested in maintaining the law objectively. What Pilate wants to know is whether Jesus is a personal threat to him. Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus says in reply, are you asking for the crowd or are you asking for yourself?

When Pilate scoffs at the idea, he says, am I a Jew? He hides his ulterior motives. And at this, Jesus replies, my kingdom is not of this world. In this opening exchange between Pilate and Jesus, we find some compelling insights into human nature when the heart is confronted with the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus is a threat to our self-determined power.

And that is what we're seeing, I think, in part here with Jesus and Pilate. You see, when we come to Jesus for the very first time, when we are brought to investigate Him to weigh up the things that He has said, the things that He has claimed, you will be cautious the very first time about what He has to say. You'll be cautious about what He says He has done, about who He claims to be. Why? Because if all the things He said and did are true, then something very deep, very primal inside us is challenged.

The pride in us is challenged which says, this is my life and I'm not going to give it up very easily. Pilate says, this is my city, this is my country, this is my province and I'm not giving it up. And this is the challenge of Easter. The kingship of Jesus challenges middle class Australia. It challenges middle income Australians who are so self-sufficient because we are challenged to say, who is this man?

If He is king, what does that mean for me? If you are not committed to daily giving your life over to the rule of Jesus, then you are demonstrating that you actually have no idea who Jesus is. Just like Pilate, you are demonstrating no faith in His authority to speak on behalf of God. You will listen to what He says, but you will ignore Him or you will rationalise away the things He says, like, be holy as God is holy. Give to the person who needs.

Give them the clothes off your back if that needs to happen. You have to listen to Him when He says, render to Caesar what is Caesar's. We are offended that He dares to have authority to tell us even how to think, that if you find yourself entertaining thoughts for women, thoughts for wealth, thoughts for comfort, and you entertain those thoughts with no restraint, you reveal that the belief in Jesus is that He isn't king. He isn't the king that you are compelled to obey. When we find ourselves picking and choosing what aspects of Christianity we like and we don't like, we're doing exactly what Pilate did.

We are determining whether Jesus is a threat to our power of self-determination. I want to have the control. I want to have the final say. And so, when you feel He is a threat to this, you decide to lower Him to a place of, well, okay, He might be a good man. In fact, He might be an innocent man.

And that is where I'll leave Him. But the Bible says, you will not really love Jesus. You will not really love Jesus if you don't know who He is. He is the king. Friend, before you knew Jesus as your Saviour, you had to know Him as your Lord, as the king who claimed to be who He is.

Otherwise, why call Him Saviour? If Jesus is not king first, if He is not Lord first, why does He save us? For what reason does He save us? Does Jesus save us from being lonely? Does Jesus save us from a sense of bad self-esteem or from a crippling sense of guilt?

Is that what Jesus is saving us from? Is Jesus saving us from being a Greens voter politically? Is that the reason Jesus came? Has He simply become for us, for you, a rationalising tool for voting, for a political ideology which suits your tastes? Is that what Jesus came to do when we say He is Saviour?

Jesus was not going to the cross to save you from your loneliness. Jesus didn't go to the cross to rescue you from your sense of guilt for the bad choices that you have made. He's not rescuing you from a political party. Jesus came to save because He is king. He came to save because He has a kingdom.

And out of grace, He's extending that kingdom to include you and me. Colossians 1:16 puts it this way: by Jesus, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Listen to this. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers, Pilate or authorities, all things were created through Him and for Him. And so Jesus is saving you for nothing less than the reason He is king and all existence belongs to Him.

And He has decided to spare the elect from the coming banishment out of His kingdom. We have to remember our place. Rescued souls are not the kingdom. We, the ones who have received the benefit of the cross, are not the kingdom. Christ's kingdom reaches far beyond us.

In fact, the Lord Jesus would have a kingdom even if all humanity was damned. He would still be king. He would still have a kingdom. We are not only His kingdom. Jesus is king even if humanity never received forgiveness.

And so Pilate asked, are you this king of the Jews? Are you a threat to my power? Jesus replies, no. I'm not the king of the Jews. But yes, I am king.

My kingdom is not of this world, however, and you have no idea the power that I have. Pilate then moves on to a second round of questioning. And this time, Pilate wants to determine, okay, so you've said you're a king, are you a lunatic? Are you a crazy person? In verse 37, Pilate says, okay, so you're a king then.

Having heard Jesus say that He has a kingdom not tied to what is around Him, Pilate then starts doubting that Jesus really knows what's going on. This question is probably aimed at discerning whether Jesus is just another crazy person that's been put in front of him with delusions of grandeur. Okay. He says, you're a king. And Jesus responds, you say I'm a king.

Now for our ears, response might seem a little strange, when Jesus says, you say I'm a king. Is Jesus affirming that question, that statement, or is He denying it? William Hendrickson in his commentary says that this response from Jesus is not Jesus trying to be non-committal. Hendrickson says, the reply cannot mean Jesus saying, Pilate, that is what you're saying, but I never said that. Hendrickson says, there's only one way to understand this reply.

Jesus is telling Pilate that He is correct in concluding that His prisoner possessed royal authority. It's like Jesus saying to Pilate, you said it. But Jesus goes further and He says, it's for this reason that I was born. It's for this reason I came into the world to bear witness to the truth. Jesus is not a king because He was some sort of revolutionary that led a people to come and overthrow His predecessor.

He says, for this reason, for kingship I was born, for this reason I came into the world. In other words, Jesus was born a king. And He entered human history from heaven's eternity to claim His kingdom. And He doesn't do this on the cloak and dagger. He doesn't do it secretly.

He entered the world with a public testimony. He says, I have come to bear witness to the truth. You remember, it was just the night before this that Jesus told His disciples, I am the way, the truth and the life. He tells His disciples that night that He is the embodiment of truth. And His mission is to crush the great lie, the great deception, which is the curse of sin that blinds us to God.

Jesus is the razor-like truth and He is the dependable revelation of salvation. Jesus is the truth that sets us free. And so He adds, everyone who is on the side of truth listens to my voice. Jesus says this to Pilate. And here we're implied that there's an invitation for Pilate to dig deeper.

Jesus says to Him, if you want truth, listen to what I will tell you. I am more than a king, Pilate. I am the one by which all reality is measured. And the great irony set up so beautifully by the apostle John in His gospel is that Pilate, who has set Himself up as the arbitrator of truth in this scene, He is the judge of what is true and right. Pilate cuts down the conversation with a dead-end rhetorical question, what is truth?

And all along, Jesus is sitting in front of Him saying, I am the truth. Pilate concludes for himself, well, you're an eccentric man. Perhaps you're even philosophical. But you're not crazy. But he also says, I'm done with this conversation.

I'm not going to get too bogged down in this. And so he decides to tell the crowd of accusers that I don't find anything worthy of punishment in this man. Now again, what Pilate misses is what many, many people will miss about Jesus today. When modern Australia with access to the gospel in literally thousands of different ways, thousands of different formats, chooses to overlook Jesus. They do exactly what Pilate did.

They conclude, well, Jesus is not a lunatic. He's probably a good man, but He's also not king. But ask yourself this, if Jesus is not a lunatic, but claimed Himself to be king, then what is He? For some of us watching this morning, that very question has remained unanswered even to this point. And that tension, that moment of deciding, making a choice has never been made.

If Jesus isn't a lunatic, yet you don't live as though He is king either, then what is He? Have you heard what Jesus says about Himself here? He says, I am the measurement by which all things will be measured. I am the truest true. I am the clearest clear.

He is the straightest line, the realest real. Of all the voices that you might want to listen to, the ones that you are listening to, He is the most authoritative speaker on the topic of your life and your purpose. And so I want to tell you, you cannot remain neutral about Jesus. He's either a lunatic or He is Lord. You must decide who He is to you.

But then I want to tell you as well that your assessment of Him won't change who He truly is. Your assessment of Him, whether He is a lunatic or He is Lord, only determines on which side of truth you stand on. Jesus says to Pilate, whoever stands on the side of truth listens to my voice. And Pilate decides, I'm happy to remain undecided. But undecided doesn't mean neutral.

It means unmoved from the deception. Satan is the father of lies, Jesus said once before. If I am the truth and you don't belong to the truth, who are you belonging to? And then we come to the third round of questioning that happens a little bit later for Pilate in chapter 19. And Pilate asked this very pointed question as He sees the temperature rising and the stakes rising.

He says to Jesus, are you not going to beg for your life? Crowds have not let up on their demands for Jesus to be executed. Even when Pilate says, there is no reason to execute Him. Pilate, fearing another revolt, goes back to find some sort of reason to execute Jesus. And in verse 9, Pilate asked Jesus, where are you from?

How have these people become so angry with you? Jesus doesn't have an answer because Pilate wouldn't understand. Astonished with the way Jesus is handling this situation, Pilate says, you won't speak to me? Don't you know that I have the authority to release you or crucify you? And at this, Jesus responds, you have no authority apart from the authority that has been given to you from God.

In His silence, Jesus shows that He has set His mind on the task at hand, and that is to go to the cross. He will go there and He will fulfil His mission. And in this response to Pilate's question, Jesus shows that His mission is unstoppable. It is not going to be overturned. Jesus will not be rescued.

Pilate will have no say in the outcome. Why? Because this was never in the hands of Pilate in the first place. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul the Apostle would later write, God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us.

Who was it that sent Jesus to the cross? Was it Pilate? Was it the chief priests? No. It was God.

The apostle Paul, forty days after this event, says to a crowd, men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. No one took Jesus' life. And therefore, Pilate did not have the power to spare the life of Christ either. All authority laid with Christ, and He decided to accomplish His mission.

The worship of Christ as king, I want to tell you, is a choice at Easter time. And each of us have made our choices today. You have made a choice this morning. And we may feel like that is power. We may feel that that is freedom.

But even now, know this, that you are personally fulfilling the purpose of God. I'm here to tell you that this purpose may be the purpose of God's wrath in you, or it may be the purpose of God to save you. I'm here to tell you that this purpose is the purpose of God expressed supremely at Easter. And Jesus Christ is saying to Pilate and He's saying to us now, to those who look down their noses and say how pitiful it is that Christ would leave Himself and His fate in my hands. Jesus needs me to decide whether I crown Him king or not over life, over my life.

And Jesus heading to the cross with silent determination is showing He is fetching people for His kingdom, whether you want Him to or not. Why does Jesus remain silent? Why does Jesus not break into your lounge room right now and reveal Himself in His kingly glory so that you will have no choice but to acknowledge Him as king? The simple reason, He doesn't need to persuade you that He is king. He is king.

The question is, how do you become His subject? And the answer is through faith, through belief, through accepting that as true. How does faith look like? By saying, if He holds the truth, then I need to find it out for myself. And how do I find it out?

By listening to what He says, by reading His words in scripture, by speaking to Him in prayer, and allowing Him to come into my heart, by saying, Lord, please come into my life so that you may be the king of it. He doesn't owe us any explanation. We owe Him our obedience. You owe Him your everything. Why does Jesus stay silent when He has been presented with the offer of being protected by Pilate?

Because He knows that that offer is never really an offer. Christ must die for humanity because He is the true and righteous king who offers His life for His kingdom. And only a true and righteous king would give up everything for His kingdom. That's why He doesn't need to speak. And because He is king now, He doesn't need to bow at the throne of our lives and plead for our attention.

Instead, He commands you, lay down your weapons and yield to me. And so in His death, visually represented by the cross, the most visual, visceral, representative image of someone absolutely and completely rejected and denied by God. In that death, Jesus was punished for sin. This morning, you need to hear that this punishment could be the punishment for your sin. It could be the punishment for your sin.

And if it is not your punishment, then your sin has not been dealt with. Your sin remains firmly on you. But then as a believer, as a subject in His kingdom, we can look at the cross and say, there, my sin was punished. There, my eternal life was given to me. Friend, will you receive this today?

Will this Easter in the midst of the coronavirus crisis be the special day where you receive forgiveness, where you receive eternity? Give your life to the king. Receive Him as your king because He is king anyway. And the king demands your life, your soul, your all. Let's pray.

Heavenly father, we stand before the cross with our eyes firmly fixed and our gaze, Lord, is upon your Son who went to the cross. And as a lamb sent to the slaughter, He is silent. So He did not raise His voice. We knew, we know that He is a man who was set apart. Some of us think that He was a good man.

Some of us believe that He was innocent and He died an unjust death. But Lord, today, may we deeply know in the deepest recesses of our rebellious hearts that He is king. May we bow our knees to Him. May we give our hearts to Him. May we see what He has done out of love, out of grace, with sheer determination for us, for His kingdom.

May we receive that and place our trust in that finished work. We come to lay our weapons aside and to yield to the king. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for your work. We receive it again today. In Jesus' name. Amen.