The First Roman Trial - Jesus Before Pilate part 1

Well take your Bible and turn with me this morning back to John chapter 18. We were there earlier in our Scroocher reading John chapter 18. Like I said earlier we will be covering verses 28 home down to verse 32. Truthfully verses 28 all the way down to verse 38 or so go together but we're dividing them up as a part one and a part two just to have the adequate amount of time to divide the verses and also to be good stewards of our time. So John chapter 18 starting in verse 28. Now it's been a couple of weeks since we've been in our study in the Gospel of John. Most of you know we've been in John for quite some time.

This is that series that we've titled Christ the Son of God Believe and Live. We know that John wrote that those hearers would believe that Jesus is deity, God's own son, and John wrote that they would come to know Christ personally in salvation. Now two Sundays ago while I was on vacation Brother Keith taught on worship both in the sunny morning and the Sunday evening message. Truthfully he spelled out our philosophy behind our music ministry and two messages. If you want to know our approach to music ministry here at NOLA I would encourage you to go get those two messages. Those are on our church website.

As a matter of fact there are quite a few other messages that Brother Keith has taught on worship. You can go back and access that information so you will know our heart when it comes to music and worship here in our church. Last Sunday we took both the morning and the evening message to look at the Lord's Supper. We took an adequate amount of time to educate ourselves and to be ready to be prepared as we worshiped in participating in the supper. This was all a reminder of what Jesus did for us on the cross.

Now if we look back at the last two messages that we had in the Gospel of John we see that Jesus made a great transition in his earthly ministry. I said this numerous times. This helps us get things in our mind. But Jesus turned the corner in his ministry. This great transition took place in the Garden of Gethsemane. Remember I shared with you that Jesus went in the Garden for two reasons. First he went in the Garden to pray and then second he went into the Garden to be arrested.

In prayer Jesus willingly, perfectly surrendered to the will of the Father and then he willingly and perfectly surrendered to that arrest by the mob that was led by Judas, the traitor Judas. It was at this point that Jesus left his earthly ministry with men and he surrendered to the eternal plan of the cross and all of the events surrounding the cross. Now immediately after his arrest Jesus was put on trial. Another way to see it is that Jesus was put on trials, plural. Jesus went before the Jews in three different trials. These would be considered the religious trials and then he went before the Romans in three different trials.

These are called the civil trials. And this is where we find ourselves this morning in chapter 18. Now seeing these specifics are very important. When we're reading John and we're reading the other Gospels we will see that Jesus is going back and forth, back and forth before a lot of different authoritative figures. These details help us keep up with what is actually going on. Now I did something different in our study in John. When we stepped over into chapter 18 I challenged us to read the events surrounding the cross and all four Gospels. I know this will take a little more time but this is good.

But I also warned us that we can face some challenges. The different accounts can be difficult to weave together. I'll give you an example of the three different trials. If we do not understand this going back and forth in the trials, it can be confusing. When we get into our verses this morning I want to give us a little more clarifying information. If we compare the information of the other Gospels given concerning the Jewish trials to John's Gospel we see that they give more information about the Jewish trials. John does not give us any details about the second and the third Jewish trials. He only mentions that Anna sent Jesus to Caiaphas.

If we compare the information John gives concerning the Jewish trial against the Roman trials we see that John gives quite a bit more information about the Roman trials. John shows us that Jesus questioned Pilate while other Gospels do not. These differences do not need to alarm us. They do not need to confuse us. We need to see that each Gospel account is like the brushstroke of a painting. All the information from the Gospels come together to give us the beautiful picture of the events surrounding the cross. This is the picture that God wants us to have.

That's why I encouraged us and challenged us to take the time and read all of the Gospel accounts. Now with that said, I believe that gets us in the right frame of mind to start our verses this morning. Now in our first verse this morning we will see a transition. If you would go back to verse 28. The beginning of verse 28. "They," that's the Jews, "led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium." Here we see Jesus go from the Jewish authorities to the Roman authorities. We see this transition a little better if we read around that last situation with Peter when he denies Christ the second and the third time. Let me help you.

Go back to verse 24. This is the last of the Jewish trials. We have very little information here in John. And what do we see? Let's read verse 24 and then skip around to verse 28. "And us therefore send him bound to Caiaphas." That's the last of the Jewish trials. The high priest. Then verse 28. "Then they led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas to the Praetorium." So this is the context of our message this morning. Jesus says, "left the Jewish authorities." And he's going before the Roman authorities for the very first time since his arrest. That prepares us for our scriptures. Let's go to our scriptures this morning again.

Let's read them together. "They," this is the Jews, "they led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium and it was early. And they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium in order that they might not be defiled but might eat the Passover or Passover meal. Pilate therefore went out to them and he said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?" They answered and they said to him, "If this man were not an evil doer we would not have delivered him up to you." Pilate therefore said to them, "Take him yourself.

Judge him according to your law." And the Jews said to him, "We are not permitted to put anyone to death, that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spoke signifying by what kind of death he was about to die." Now I want to give you the title of the message and not only that, how we will divide these verses. You know I like titles. The title of the message helps us get our mind around what we're going to look at. So we see Jesus before Pilate. Now I said earlier this is a part one. Part two picks up in verse 33 and goes on down to verse 38. So this is Jesus before Pilate, the first Roman trial.

Now you see how we'll divide these verses. We do encourage you to take notes. It is our habit here to be faithful to take notes. We want to go home and we want to study these scriptures. Study the message so that we can absorb all the Lord wants to give us. We want to be good stewards of what God gives us because we want the Word to form us into the people that God wants us to be. So you see the major truths before us. The hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders, verse 28, and then Jesus is accused before Pilate, verse 29 to 32. So let's look at our first major truth. Truth number one in our outline, the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders.

This is right out of verse 28. Let's go back and read the verse again. They, that's the Jews, they led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas, that last of the Jewish trials, into the Praetorium. And it was earlier, early in the day, and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium in order that they might not be defiled because they were going to eat the Passover meal later. Now even though Jesus is brought before the Roman governor Pilate, it is important to see what is still taking place in the Jewish leadership. Their actions and their character, they're like a polluted river that is running all throughout these events.

If we're not careful, we can miss some of the teaching that comes out of their actions, the actions of these hypocritical Jewish leaders. Now there are two observations I want to make out of this verse. The first observation is they brought Jesus to Pilate early in the day. They brought Jesus before Pilate there at the Praetorium early in the day. What does the verse said? They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early. Now there's a key word here that we need to understand. Simply this word early. Now specifically this word speaks of the fourth watch of the night which was from 3 a.m to 6 a.m.

Historians tell us that the Roman officials usually started official duties beginning at dawn, and this fourth watch would have been before dawn. Now at a glance this might not seem like a shady move on the part of the religious leaders, but what needs to be seen here is their motive. They brought Jesus before Pilate very early to make a strong push for an execution. They were trying to rush things along before the crowds knew what was happening and they could get involved. They feared the crowds.

The Jewish leaders feared the crowds would interfere with their predetermined agenda, and we learned about this predetermined agenda earlier in chapter 18, and it was to bring Jesus to the point of execution. Now the second observation I want us to see is that they would not enter Pilate's headquarters or his residence this Praetorium. Go back to the verse. They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early, but they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium in order that they might not be defiled. Now depending upon what translation you have, it reads differently.

The New American that I'm reading from, it uses the Latin word Praetorium, but the King James calls this a Hall of Judgment. The English Standard version uses the words "Governor's headquarters." These are all very accurate. Now this was Pilate's residence when he was in residence in Jerusalem. It was here that Pilate handled official Roman business. Now notice something. The Jewish leaders would not enter into his palace or this residence. Now question, why this type of behavior from the Jewish leaders? If the Jews would have entered into the residence of a Gentile such as this, they would have immediately been considered defiled.

They would have been ceremonially unclean. This would have prevented them from participating in the Lord's Supper, or excuse me, the Passover celebration that we see here in verse 28. What is it saying? They themselves did not enter into the Praetorium in order that they might not be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. So they were diligent, very diligent to keep themselves ritually clean so they could participate in the Passover celebration. Now in summary, what do we see here just in this one verse? Now truthfully there's a lot right here. The Jewish leadership brought Jesus before Pilate very early. Most likely before the dawn.

They were trying to rush Jesus' execution through the Roman court system. It was questionable whether the Jews had the authority to execute Jesus, so they leaned on Pilate to get the job done. They were also very worried about not becoming ceremonially unclean defiled by entering the residence of a Gentile, but they did not seem to care if they became morally defiled by unlawfully killing an innocent man. I like how John MacArthur describes this. He calls this a twisted devotion, a twisted devotion of religious legalists. That is exactly correct. A condemnation of execution, which is what the Jews wanted.

It was illegal according to the Jewish law. Also the sentence of execution could not be legally pronounced on the same day according to the Jewish law. All of this and so much more point to the fact that the Jewish leaders were working very, very hard to manipulate the system, and they were using the Romans to do so. The Bible scholar D.A. Carson describes the Jews' behavior very well, and I think this helps us wrap these truths up, and I quote, "The Jews take elaborate precautions to avoid ritual contamination in order to eat the Passover.

At the very same time, they are busy manipulating the judicial system to secure the death of him who alone is the true Passover." Now why do I spend the time on this small portion of scripture? This is just one verse. Why do I continue to point out the Jewish leaders and their behavior? Because I've done so all through chapter 18. In these men, we have the classic and timeless behavior of religious hypocrites. Classic meaning, they are a great example. I can't think of a better example of religious hypocrites than these men, and we learn by studying examples. If you're like me, you need to see an example.

I mean timeless because we see this same behavior throughout the ages. We see this behavior even today, and we need to learn from this type of behavior so we can be prepared because in our journey in the life of the church, we will come across religious hypocrites. As a matter of fact, some of you can name names. Some of you can describe experiences that you have had with religious hypocrites. As a matter of fact, when I began to go through and explain how these men are, you probably even thought about individuals that you know. Matter of fact, we can use their behavior.

We can use the example of these men as a test, our tests, and we will revisit these tests later at the conclusion of the message. Let's move on to our second major truth and our outline. Number two, Jesus is accused before Pilate. Jesus is accused before Pilate. Let's look back at verse 29. We'll cover a bigger portion of scripture here. Verse 29, "Pilate therefore he went out to them." That's the Jews that he said. "What accusation do you bring against this man?" They answered and they said to him that this man were not an evil doer, a constant evil doer is what that word means. We would not have delivered him up to you.

Pilate therefore said to him, "Take him yourself and judge him according to your law." That would be the Jewish law. And the Jews said to him, "We are not permitted to put anyone to death, that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled," which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he was about to die. Now we saw in verse 28 that the Jews brought Jesus to Pilate. This was after they had concluded their religious trials. Again, we need to remember that John does not give us much information about the second and the third Jewish trials. They are only mentioned in the previous verses.

So here we have the beginning of the first of the civil trials, the Roman trial. Now a question, who is this individual pilot? He is first mentioned here in verse 29. Now you might see his name come out through scripture as Pontius Pilate. Now answering this question is very important. We have to remember that Israel as a nation was occupied by the Romans. Jerusalem fell to the Romans in 63 BC under the Roman general Pompeii. And by this time, the region was on its fifth governor who happened to be Pilate. Pilate held the office of governor of Judea for 10 years.

And the gospel accounts and reliable historical records revealed that Pilate was a very arrogant and insensitive leader. He was very insensitive towards the Jews and he always seemed to anger and enrage them. One example, we don't have time for many, but one example is he took money out of the temple treasury to build a aqueduct for Jerusalem. That would have been a better water supply. And these types of events caused riots among the people. And during these riots, it was not unusual for Pilate to have his soldiers slaughter many of the Jews. And obviously Pilate was hated, a hated man among the Jewish people.

But this is very important information and we need to see what type of governor Jesus went before. There's quite a bit of information here in these verses, so be patient with me. There are five observations I want us to make here. There's a lot of truth and it just builds and builds and builds. So let's look at our first observation. Pilate went out for the accusation. Look at verse 29. Pilate therefore went out to them and he said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?" Now it is obvious that the Jewish leadership knew Pilate. It is obvious that Pilate knew these circumstances.

The Romans had been a part of the arrest of Jesus there in the garden. So Pilate knew all that was going on. But here we see Pilate accommodating the Jews. He went out to meet them and he went out to ask them the charge. Now this would have formally opened up the civil proceedings. He is asking them for the formal charge that is brought against Jesus. So officially here in verse 29 things get underway. The second observation, the Jews are the Jewish accusation. Verse 30, they answered and they said to him, "If this man were not an evil doer," the original language means a continual evil doer.

"We would not have delivered him up to you." Now truthfully Pilate's question here put the Jews in a very strange position. Their charge was a religious charge. Jesus had claimed to be God which in their eyes was blasphemy. But this charge would not hold up in a Roman court and these Jews knew that. So notice their approach to Pilate. They answered Pilate in a very general way. Go back to the verse. "So they answered and they said to him, 'If this man were not an evil doer, we would not have delivered him up to you.'" See this is not very specific at all. They simply said he is a continual evil doer.

Truthfully it is it is as if the Jews are saying, "Just trust us Pilate. This Jesus is always doing evil so he should be executed." And this charge was against Jesus' character and not a civil criminal charge. This shady behavior speaks to the illegitimacy of their accusation and the innocence of Jesus. Our third observation, again this is just building. Notice Pilate's reaction at the beginning of verse 31. "Pilate therefore said to him, 'Take him yourselves and you judge him according to your law or your Jewish law.'" It is obvious here that Pilate does not want anything to do with this situation.

He immediately pushes the situation back on the Jews and Pilates eyes. If there is no Roman law broken then the Jews should handle the situation on their own. Now to understand this more fully we must understand that the Romans would allow their conquered peoples a good bit of latitude in circumstances like this. They would allow them to administer justice according to their own laws. And that is what is taking place here. Pilate is giving them freedom to deal with this Jewish situation in their own Jewish courts. Now it is important to see what Pilate's reaction reveals. This reveals the Jews and their true intentions.

They wanted a quick execution by the Romans. They wanted Pilate to do their dirty work. But Pilate would not have it. At least not yet. Now our fourth observation, notice the Jewish response. Back in verse 31, "Pilate therefore said to them, 'Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.'" That's Pilate's reaction. Now next the Jewish response. "The Jews said to him, 'We are not permitted to put anyone to death.'" Now eventually we do know that Pilate would execute Jesus. But for now he passes this purely Jewish problem back on the Jews. Here we see the Jews verbally express their true intentions. What do they say?

"We are not permitted to put anyone to death." Up until now the Jews had not said that they wanted Jesus executed. Obviously this was their intentions. And Pilate knew it. Now this brings up an interesting question. Could the Jews execute someone under Jewish law? Two times earlier we saw that the Jews tried to stone Jesus in the Gospel of John. In John 8 verse 59 and in John 10 verse 31, they did not seek permission of the Romans in those circumstances. If we fast forward quite a bit over in Acts chapter 7, the Jews executed Stephen by stoning and they did not ask the Romans for permission there.

All of this was done without consulting the Roman authorities. This just proves that the Jewish leader truly wanted the Romans to execute Jesus. That is why they balked here when Pilate put the situation back on them. They wanted the Romans, Pilate, to do their dirty work. In the fifth observation, the prophecy of Jesus is fulfilled. Look at verse 32. "All of this happened," verse 32, "that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke signifying by what kind of death he was about to die." Here in verse 32, we see three realities come together. And you need to notice these realities.

First, the great manipulation of the Jewish leadership. All along I pointed out their great manipulation here. They were trying to manipulate things to get Jesus executed quickly by the Romans. The second reality is the conniving of Pilate. He showed weakness by taking the easy way out. He put the situation back on the Jews. But notice these two realities prove the third reality. This was to fulfill the words of Jesus. Jesus had prophesied that the Gentiles would be a part of his death. Back in Matthew chapter 10, verse 33 and 34, Jesus had stated in John 12, 32, that he would be crucified.

John 12, 32, reads, "And these are the words of Jesus, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, that's a picture of the cross, I will draw all people to myself." He also made other references to the cross. Back in John 3, verse 14. Back in John 8, verse 28. All of these actions by the Jews, all of these actions by the Romans, were to fulfill the words of Christ concerning his death. Now in summary, what do we see here? Again, truthfully, there is a lot more information here than maybe we have thought. We see this cooperation between the Jews and the Romans, and this great manipulation by the Jewish leaders.

They are trying really hard for a quick Roman execution, no matter what the Jewish law said. We are watching this evil dance between the Jews and the Romans. At the center of this evil dance is the execution, the crucifixion of Jesus. And of course, all of this, all of this is a part of the predetermined eternal plan of God. Now in application here we see that God's plans are greater than the world's plans. Let me repeat that. God's plans are greater than the plans of the Jews, and greater than the plans of the Romans. For the Jewish leaders, Jesus was a threat to their power, to their position, and their prestigious offices.

He was not the Messiah that they planned for. Although they were eagerly waiting for Messiah, Jesus did not fit into their plans. And for the Romans, Jesus was just another disturbance to control. He was another outlaw who disrupted the peace in their region. Any threat would be dealt with a violent blow. They have no problem murdering someone to hold onto their conquered territories. But we need to see one reality here. All this was a part of God's predetermined plan. Jesus had foretold that he would be put to death by sinful men, yes by the Jews, his own people, and yes even the Gentile Romans. This was God's plan.

This did not sneak up on God in any way, not one detail. And there's one great lesson here. At times, we must see that God uses the actions of sinful men to accomplish his purposes for his glory. Now as we move away from our passages of scripture this morning, what do we see? You see the beginning of the Roman trials, the first as Jesus goes before Pilate. Again this is a part one because verse 33 continues this first of the Roman trials. Jesus goes before Pilate, Pontius Pilate, this brutal, this violent Roman governor. And this is all part of God's plan. And next week we will examine Pilate's questioning of Jesus.

And then Pilate presenting Jesus before the Jews, truthfully saying this man is innocent. Now in conclusion, we need to see that the behavior of the Jewish leaders can educate us and prepare us. I alluded to some more application earlier in the message. We can learn, we can grow, and we can be prepared for how religious hypocrites work. This could prepare us for even events that we may face in the future. This could help us understand circumstances we've been through in the past. Now from what we've learned of these hypocrites so far in chapter 18, I will show you that there are four tests for a religious hypocrite.

I mean this just leaps right out of these pages into today. So the first test, do the leaders at hand seek power, position, and prestige? I'm gonna repeat that. Do the leaders at hand seek power and position and prestige? Isn't that what we see here by these Jewish leaders? What did they say back in John 11? It is better for one man to die for the nation. See, they were holding on to their positions, they were holding on to their power, and they were holding on to their prestige. They were holding on to that tenuous relationship between them and the Romans.

They did not want to let go, and they would do anything, anything, even contradict and mutilate God's word to hold on. Do we see leaders do that today? When you come in contact with a religious leader, it is not unfair for you to observe how they deal with power, position, and prestige. I've seen men in the life of the church lust after power, do anything to hold on to position, really treat people in a very sinful way to acquire position. I've seen people take the prestige and the life of the church and use it in a powerful and sinful way.

So the question that we can ask is, do leaders that come before us seek power and position and prestige? You know there are certain things that are self-evident. My wife has an uncle that's six-eight, I met him one time, weighs well over 300 pounds, and you know when he walks in the door, he doesn't have to tell you he's a very large man. It's self-evident. And you know when you come in contact with religious leaders and they seek power, position, and prestige, usually I don't have to tell you. It's self-evident. The second test, do the leaders at hand seek to benefit from worldly people?

Isn't that what we see these religious leaders, these Jews doing? They are seeking to benefit from the Romans. They are occupied by these pagan people. And I said that this is this evil dance between the Jewish leaders and the Romans. And they are doing whatever they can do to keep tied up with the Romans. And they are seeking to benefit from the Romans. We learned earlier that they manipulated with the office of the high priest. They removed Annas and put his son-in-law in position. And that was contradictory to the word of God. See? They were benefiting from these pagan worldly people.

Again, sometimes we come in contact with ministers, so-called ministers of the gospel. And they seek to benefit themselves with worldly people. I have watched so-called ministers of the gospel. I mean bird-dog people in the life of the church who have money. I've seen people with thick billfalls walk in the door and they ignore personal sin in their life. They step over God's word so that they can suck up to that money. That's exactly what the religious leaders did. The third test. Do religious leaders manipulate, overlook, or contradict God's word for personal gain? Isn't that what we've seen continuously all through these proceedings?

Everything that they have done, every step along the way, they've manipulated, they have contradicted, and they have ignored God's word for what? For personal gain. It was against the law, the Jewish law, to have Jesus executed in this manner. But they didn't care. They wanted him out of the way. I've seen so-called ministers of the gospel manipulate God's word, overlook God's word, and contradict God's word for what? To hold on to their power, their position, and their prestige. We have no right to do that in the life of the church. We must declare what God's word says, and we must live by what God's word says. No matter what.

And again, I appeal to that illustration earlier. We do not have to announce these things. They are self-evident. And then the fourth test, the last test. Do the leaders at hand have a religious facade or front that covers over a contradictory life? Isn't that what we see here? We saw this flashing neon sign right here in this circumstance. They wouldn't dare come into the residence of a Gentile, but they would sure have someone killed innocently. You see how they were adhering to this religious facade, this fake front? But yet behind there, there was a contradictory life. We see that in many so-called ministers of the gospel today.

They have this religious facade, this hypocritical front, but yet when you get into their life, it's full of contradictions. No minister of the gospel should live a life like that. I'm not adhering to a level of perfection. No, I'm not trying to raise the standard to an unrealistic standard, but what I'm showing you is, is these are religious hypocrites. They have a facade but yet it covers over a contradictory lifestyle. Now I've been here for quite a while for many of you. You've had plenty of time to look into my life and Brother Keith's life. That's not the kind of life we live. We're not perfect, no, but we've seen men like this.

Now truthfully, this part of the message is surprised some of you. What have we been looking at? This first of the civil trials, the Roman trials, Jesus going before Pilate, but what do we see? We see the religious leaders and their behavior, and if we observe it, we can see how it can prepare us for today, and we must allow these religious leaders to teach us as an example and prepare us, but we must see the greater work. The greater work was that Jesus, God's own son, went before Pilate led by these religious leaders, and he was going as a part of the unfolding plan, going all the way to the cross as that atoning sacrifice for sin.

I believe it's accurate that we can say it like this. This message is very theological. It's a study of the work of Christ going to the cross, but yet it's very practical. May the Lord help us to see all that Jesus went through on his journey to the cross, and may the Lord help us to learn, even learn from these religious, hypocritical leaders. Let's pray.