Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/stornowayfc/sermons/63086/behold-the-man-behold-the-king/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] Well, let me extend a very warm welcome to you all to our service this evening. It's good to see you, and we trust the Lord will be with us, as we always do. The session will be pleased to meet with anyone belonging to the congregation who wishes to come to the Lord's Table for the first time. [0:17] The session's already been opened on Wednesday, so all you need to do is let that be known to myself, to any of the elders, and we'll be very happy indeed to meet with you after the service. [0:28] God willing, the service is tomorrow. There's an 8 o'clock prayer meeting here in the session room, and then afterwards the Gaelic service is at 11, followed by the English tomorrow evening, and that's at 7 o'clock tomorrow evening, not 7.30, 7 o'clock tomorrow evening. [0:46] And I'm delighted to welcome Reverend Angus McRae, who's taking the English services throughout the communion. He's a Stornoway boy, so I'm sure he'll feel at home, and we're delighted that he's able to be with us for these services, and we look forward very much to his ministry. I think these are all the intimations for the moment. [1:05] Thank you very much for your warm welcome. What a joy to come together in the name of the Lord, to lift up his name and his glory and his praise together. It's a real pleasure to be back where I grew up. [1:25] We worship the Lord tonight by singing to his praise in Psalm 122, singing the whole of the psalm from the Scottish Psalter, Psalm 122 in the Scottish Psalter. [1:40] A wonderful call to worship. Let us sing to God's praise. [1:55] Amen. I joyed when to the house of God, Go up, they said to me, Jerusalem, within my gates, Our feet shall stand in me. [2:28] Jerusalem, as our city is, Come, but we will together, And to the place the Christ go up, The Christ of God go together, To Israel's testimony there, To God's infants to pray, For those of judgment in the thrones Of the rest of their stay. [3:26] Pray that Jerusalem may have Peace and Felicity, Let them love me and thy peace, And still prosperity. [3:53] Therefore I wish that peace may still Within thy walls remain, And never may thy policies, Frostedity retain. [4:23] Now for my friends and brethren's sake, Peace be in thee and sing, And for the rest of God, our Lord, I will seek thy good always. [4:52] Amen. We unite our hearts in prayer together. Let us pray. Gracious Lord, the Lord and King, Who is enthroned not only in an earthly Jerusalem, But in the Jerusalem on which the earthly city is patterned, You are the King of kings and Lord of lords. [5:25] All majesty, all glory, all authority and sovereignty Is in your hand. You reign with the will of the eternal and unchanging God. [5:40] You are Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One God, In agreement, In perfect counsel, And with the purpose that will be established, And that will stand. [5:59] Help us to draw near. Help us to draw near. Help us to draw near. And to do so faithfully, In faith and in repentance. Faithfully because we acknowledge the holiness of God, And the faithfulness of God to his promise and covenant. [6:18] Acknowledging that we need mercy, And forgiveness, Cleansing, And peace. We come to the testimony that you have established. [6:33] We come to celebrate around the covenant that you have made. And both in the word, In the scripture, And in the praises and prayers of the church, And in the gospel signs, The sacraments, We draw near. [6:53] Show us God's faithfulness, God's judgments, God's glory and compassion and mercy, In all of those things. [7:06] And pour out the spirit of peace upon us, And upon every gathering of God's people. [7:17] To the ends of the earth and to the end of the age, We pray that Jerusalem may have peace and felicity. And let all those that love the Lord, Let them that love thee and thy peace, Have still prosperity. [7:38] We meet together this evening with so much to praise and thank God for. And we are grateful that we are not alone, For as we gather here for worship, And over this weekend of holy things, There are others in the Gallic portion of the congregation meeting as we are. [8:00] Pour out blessing upon them, Upon Mr. MacDonald and all those who minister the word, Across this town and district this weekend. [8:12] And we pray for brothers and sisters meeting in the various branches of the church of Jesus Christ. May we know that true unity and fellowship that is in the truth and in the Holy Spirit. [8:30] May we maintain love, May we maintain peace by the grace of God. May we thank you for this church and for all who belong to it. [8:42] May we thank you for this church and for all who belong to it. Members and those who belong as adherents. Especially we lift up the pastor, the assistant pastor, their families, the elders and deacons, And all who work and labor and who give of their time to serve among young and old. [9:03] And we ask that in these days there would be a freshness and a vitality and a spirit of joy in every aspect of the life of the church. [9:15] Bring healing and encouragement to those who are in weakness, pain and distress. Bring joy to those who sorrow and mourn. [9:27] Blessed are they that mourn. And bring health and help to those who confess their need of Jesus Christ. [9:38] It may be that there are some whose desire is to testify to the goodness and grace of God towards them. [9:49] By sitting at the Lord's table and confessing their love for the Lord. And if there are any such, we do pray that help will be given. [10:00] That they may take their place, seated with the children of God. Giving thanks for all the many benefits that we enjoy. [10:11] We pray for this island, for the branch of the church we belong to, and for the bride of Christ across the nation and across the world. [10:23] So often, a persecuted and troubled church. Be merciful to those who cry out to God for justice and for relief today. [10:36] The scriptures warn us of the way of folly. Lest like chaff we be blown away. But the same scriptures encourage us that we might walk in the way of wisdom. [10:53] That we might be found in the company of those who speak of the Lord. And who read and handle holy things, the word and the sacraments by faith. [11:09] May we be found with those who are in Christ. And may we find the liberty of those whose captivity has been turned around by the Lord. [11:25] Jesus came so that sight would be given to the blind. So that release would be given to the captives. So that the jubilee year of the Lord would sound. [11:38] So that good news would be preached to the poor. Lord, grant all these things and more to us tonight and in the days to come. [11:51] That we may no longer be in darkness. But know the light of the Lord. We pray in the Saviour's name. Seeking blessing on the word and on our time together. [12:05] And seeking forgiveness for every sin. Hear us for we pray in the majestic name of Jesus. [12:16] Amen. Sing again to God's praise. And sing psalms this time. Sing psalms in Psalm 61. [12:27] The 61st Psalm. And the opening verses of the Psalm. Psalm 61. Reminds us that God is a rock. And we are not to run away from the rock. [12:40] But to hide in the rock that is higher than us. O hear my urgent cry, my God. And listen to my plea. Psalm 61. [12:51] And sing psalms. The verses marked 1 to 5. To God's praise. O hear my urgent cry, my God. [13:10] And listen to my plea. From earth's remotest psalms I call. [13:25] When my heart's in me. O God. Conduct me to the rock. That's higher far than I. For you my refuge from the foe. My time. O God. O God. [13:36] Conduct me to the rock. O God. Conduct me to the rock. O God. Conduct me to the rock. That's higher far than I. For you my refuge from the foe. My time. O God. Conduct me to the high. Of you my refuge from the foe. [14:00] My time. O God. Let me dwell within your tent, forever there to live. [14:25] O for the shelter of your wings, the refuge which they give. [14:42] For you have heard my voice, O God, and you have given me the heritage of those who fear. [15:08] Hear me continually. The scriptures we're going to turn to this evening to read are in the Gospel of John chapter 19. [15:31] The Gospel of John and chapter 19. God has blessed us with four accounts of the life and the work of his Son who came into this world. [16:00] Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John. Wonderful records that dovetail together. And the fourth Gospel, John's Gospel, is somewhat different from the other three. [16:13] It often shows us the spiritual meaning and significance of some of the details of the story. There's much that's told in the other three Gospels that is not in John. [16:28] But John, in a sense, shows us the meaning and the mystery and the depth of so much in the glory that is revealed in Jesus. [16:41] But what all four Gospels have in common is that they are moving towards the last days of Jesus. The last week that he lived. [16:53] They focus on that week. And they focus on his last night before his arrest. On his last day as he was placed on the cross. [17:07] And on his death and burial and glorious resurrection. The suffering, the passion of Jesus is where all the Gospels focus. [17:21] Everything leads to that. And of course it is natural at a communion weekend that we should turn there. And I hope over tonight and tomorrow and on the Lord's Day that we can be in this one chapter of God's Word. [17:39] John 19. And consider again Jesus Christ. Behold the man. And look upon him. Look upon him on the cross. [17:51] And learn from him. And worship him. And give thanks. John 19. After a night of trials and injustice. [18:04] We read. Then Pilate took Jesus. And flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns. [18:17] And put it on his head. And arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him saying. Hail. King of the Jews. [18:30] 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. [18:45] So Jesus came out. So Jesus came out. Wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them. [18:57] Behold. The man. Pilate said to them. And when the chief priests and the officers saw him. They cried out. Crucify him. [19:09] Crucify him. Pilate said to them. Take him yourselves and crucify him. For I find no guilt in him. The Jews answered him. [19:20] 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. [19:33] He was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus. Where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer. [19:46] So Pilate said to him. Do you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you? And authority to crucify you? [19:59] Jesus answered him. You would have no authority over me at all. Unless it had been given you from above. [20:11] Therefore he who delivered me over to you. Has the greater sin. From then on. Pilate sought to release him. [20:22] But the Jews cried out. If you release this man. You are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king. Opposes Caesar. [20:34] 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. [20:45] Gabbatha. Now it was the day of the preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews. [20:56] Behold. Your king. They cried out. Away with him. Away with him. [21:10] Crucify him. Pilate said to them. Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered. [21:21] We have no king. But Caesar. So he delivered him over to them. To be crucified. [21:35] Amen. And this is the word of the Lord. And the Lord will bless his truth. To each one of us. We'll consider these words shortly. But first of all. [21:46] Can we sing together. From the Scottish Psalter. From Psalm 37. And at verse 3. In Psalm book page 252. [21:57] Psalm 37. At verse 3. Set thou thy trust. Upon the Lord. And be thou doing good. And so thou in the land shall dwell. [22:10] And verily. Have food. God's people are called to place their trust in God. Whatever their circumstances. [22:21] And as we do that. We are in the footsteps. Of the perfect man. The Lord. Our Master. Set thou thy trust. [22:33] We stand and sing. Amen. Amen. Set thou thy trust. And be thou doing good. [22:54] And so thou with the land shall dwell. And where you have food. [23:14] Dialect thysel. In God he'll give. Thine heart's desire to thee Thy way to God commit him trust If being to pass shall he And like unto the light he shall Thy righteousness display And he thy judgment shall bring forth Like noontide of the day [24:15] Rest in the Lord and patiently Wait for him, do not rest For him who prostrate in his way Success in sin doth get Do thou from anger cease and wrath See thou forsake also Threat not thyself in any wise That evil thou shouldst do [25:20] For those that evildoers are Shall be cut off and fall And those that wait upon the Lord The earth inherit shall Well dear friends, I wonder if we could have that passage in the Gospel of John chapter 19 Open tonight as we consider Jesus Who has been under arrest for a matter of hours Who has already been abused and treated badly by Annas [26:20] The former high priest And then by Caiaphas The current high priest Before being examined by the Gentile authorities By Pontius Pilate And what we have as we take up the story in chapter 19 Is an invitation to look at Jesus In the words of Pilate himself To the crowd To the people of Jerusalem Look Behold The man And Pilate is correct This man Is in a sense being presented to us As a new leader Of a new creation He's a new Adam Maybe we'll see that as we go through The symbolism and the imagery And the doctrine, the teaching Of John chapter 19 [27:20] This weekend Look Look at the man Look at the new Adam And Pilate is also correct When he refers to him as the king For he was a king King from above And even though he may have been mocking Or tormenting the Jews By calling Jesus king He was right He spoke the truth Behold the man Behold The king One of the things that strikes you As you look at a chapter like this Is the level of cruelty Of cynical cruelty That human beings will stoop to There is so much that is wrong So much that is unjust [28:21] In this record As we go through that record This weekend We are going to see a suffering Lord Jesus But more than that We're going to see A humiliated Lord Jesus Every effort is made To dehumanize him And to treat him as Less than any human being Should be Why all that cruelty? [28:55] Why all that Injustice? It's really surprising That people would stoop So low I want us to see two things tonight And the first thing to notice Is that earth's kingdoms Conspire To condemn Earth's kingdoms Conspire To condemn There are some really surprising Alliances In John 18 And John 19 Among the Jews The Pharisees And the Sadducees Who normally Do not respect each other Or cooperate They're in agreement Jesus must be silenced And that before the Passover He must be gone You find that the people [29:56] Who run The temple Many of whom Were Sadducees They are conspiring They're conspiring With their fellow Jews But they're conspiring With the Roman authorities Who were really their enemies Their oppressors How do you explain that? [30:19] What did Pilate have in common With the Sanhedrin Of 71 elders of the Jews? [30:32] What brought them together So that at the end The one thing they can agree on Is that Jesus must be crucified? [30:44] I want to suggest to you That this gross miscarriage Of justice Is prophesied Predicted In the second psalm Psalm 2 Is much quoted In the New Testament There are certain psalms That do a lot of heavy lifting In the Bible They're really crucial In the psalm book itself But then They echo on Through the rest of Scripture Either when they're quoted Directly Or they're alluded to The 110th psalm The 16th psalm The 2nd psalm And the 2nd psalm Talks about Conspiracy Why do the nations rage? [31:38] Why do the nations conspire? Why do the kings of the earth Assemble together In conspiracy? Well they're going to take Their little fist And they're going to shake it In the face of God And they're going to say We will build our earthly domain We will build our earthly kingdom We will build our earthly power And God will be pushed out of our thoughts And God's judgment And God's righteousness Will be put to one side If the concerns of our power Our success What we want to build If we have to sacrifice justice To get what we want Then we will make our alliances With anyone we can That has been the story Of our planet From the fall [32:40] That is still the story Of our world That is the story Of Europe Increasingly it's the story Of North America It has been The story of Africa And of Asia But that's beginning To change It was the story Of Latin America But that's beginning To change The conspiracy Of this world To close our ears And our hearts To God Is being challenged By the mighty power Of the Holy Spirit Taking Men and women Out of Satan's dominion Out of the nations That are in rebellion And conspiracy And bringing Millions Millions Of men and women Into the kingdom Of our Lord [33:41] Of Christ What a scandal Of injustice When the plot Of unbelieving Jews and Gentiles Come together You would imagine That court systems Would be designed To deliver justice The high court In our own land Trying the most Solomon grave Of crimes Is called The high court Of justiciary We want justice If someone Is accused Of murder If someone Is accused Of some violent Wickedness Like rape We want them To get a fair trial We want Every piece Of evidence To be corroborated So that [34:42] If it's admitted In court It can stand As truth Against The accused We do not want Convictions That are unsound We do not want Innocent men and women Punished and condemned The high court Is for justice But Jesus Got injustice And he got it From a judge Pilate Who said I know I find no fault In this man He's not An insurrectionist He's not A murderer He's not A rebel What law Has he broken That would carry The death penalty If you look At the plan That Pilate Had in this Chapter It's quite clear When he says For example In verse 6 Take him yourselves [35:43] And crucify him If you want If you Jews Want to get rid of him Well you Jews Get rid of him But I Find no guilt In him Pilate's plan Is to Dishonour Jesus To Humiliate Jesus To give him A good beating A good scourging And then Release him Saying Look at him Wearing the robes Of a king Some king You Jews Have A king I can beat up What a beaten Pathetic People You are Behold A man Behold Your king Pilate Is quite Open I want To release Him But he Is out Manoeuvred By his Co-conspirators From the Jews They [36:43] Want The blood Of Jesus On someone Else's Hands And so They want The Romans To be the Ones Who carry Out the Death Penalty That they Would love To see I guess When Later on In the Book of Acts They Carried Out the Death Penalty Against James The Lord's Brother Or against Stephen The first Christian Martyr They did It With means Like stoning And maybe They did Or didn't Have legal Authority And legal Standing To do It But they Were not Above Getting rid Of their Enemies Themselves But on This Occasion Because Of the Politics Because Of the Popularity Of Jesus Because Of the Many Who did Believe He was The Messiah They Wanted The Romans To do It And so This Elaborate Conspiracy Is cooked [37:44] Up Where Suddenly In order To be Caesar's Friend In order To be A good Roman Pilate Will do What the Leaders Of the Jews Want him To do And bring In a Guilty Verdict Against An Innocent Man And issue A death Order For an Innocent Man To die The Jews Did not Crucify People They Couldn't Only The Romans Could do That They Couldn't Even Crucify Their Own Roman Citizens It Was Such A Gruesome Awful Way For Someone To die Pilate's Plan Has To be Modified The Sanhedrin's Plan Seems To be Working The Ideas Of the High Priests Of the Pharisees [38:44] Of the Sadducees The Ideas Of those Who are In Control Of the Temple They All Seem To be Coming Together It's Psalm 2 Let's Get Rid Of the Lord's Anointed King Why? [39:03] Because People Want Power Earthly Power Peter And John Were Arrested In the Early Days Of the Church And In the Book of Acts Chapter 4 When They Were Released They Were Told They Weren't To Preach In The Name Of Jesus And Great Persecution Was Breaking Out And They Went Back To The Church In Acts 4 And The Church Held A Prayer Meeting And As They Prayed They Recounted To The Lord What Was Happening And They Quoted To The Lord In Their Prayer The Second Psalm About All That Had Happened And They Said Acts 4 Verse 27 Lord Truly In This City Truly Here In Jerusalem There Were Gathered Together Against Your Holy Servant Jesus Whom You Anointed Your Chosen One Your Christ Both [40:03] Herod And Pontius Pilate Along With The Gentiles And The Peoples Of Israel To Do Whatever Your Hand God's Hand Had Planned And Predestined To Take Place Their Conspiracy Was Not Outside God's Control God Was Working Out His Purposes The Man Who Was Identified As The Son Of God A Title That The Seasons Wanted To Claim For Himself Was Put To Death The Way The Romans Got Rid Of Their Worst Enemies On A Cross And It Had Been Prophesied And Predicted In The Scriptures Of The Old Testament We Have Earth's Kingdoms [41:03] Conspiring To To To Condemn But Over Them Is The Hand Of God The Will Of God The Plan Of God And God Will Get Glory Out Of This And God's Believing People Will Get Hope And Salvation Out Of This Psalm 2 Is A Warning To The Nations Worship Jesus Trust In Jesus Kiss The Son Or Face Eternal Judgment That's The First Thing Then Earth's Kingdoms Conspiring To Condemn But The Second Thing We Have In This Passage Is [42:03] Jesus Himself Heaven's King Rejected But In Control Heaven's King Earth's Kingdoms Doing Their Worst And Heaven's King Dignified Before His Accusers When The Servants Of Annas In Chapter 18 Struck Him For Answering The Question Of The Ex High Priest They Were Breaking Their Own Law When They Held Their Trial At Night And When They Used Questioning And Accusation Without Witnesses Having Been Heard They Were Breaking Their Own Law When They Rushed To Get The Sanhedrin Together At Dawn To Condemn A Man Who Hadn't Had A Trial Not A Proper Trial No Witnesses Could Be Found To Agree They Were Breaking Their Own Law When Pilate [43:03] Changed His Mind And And Condemned An Innocent Man He He Was Breaking The Roman Law Why Did All Of This Happen Why This Rejection Of Jesus Because He Is The King Behold The Man Behold Your King He Really Is And He Is Being Rejected For A Short Time But In Truth He Is In Control Tom Wright Who Used To Teach At St. [43:43] Andrews University Is Now At Oxford In His Semi Retirement New Testament Scholar He Says About The Kingdom Of Jesus That God's Kingdom The Kingdom Of Christ It Does Not Come From This World It's Not Earthly It's Not A Kingdom Of Earthly Army Sort Of Earthly Powers God's Kingdom Does Not Come From This World But It Does Come For This World God's Kingdom Is A Kingdom Designed For The Blessing Of This World For Life In This World For Justice In This World For Hope And Salvation In This World Now I Think Today There Are People In Authority In Governments The Government Of Israel [44:43] The Knesset Prime Minister Of Israel He Has Power He's Waging War There's Power In The Ancient Roman Empire There's Power In China Or In Russia Or In North Korea Or In The United States Or In NATO Or In The European Union There's Power In London There's Power In Washington There's Earthly Power That's How The World Was Long Ago That's How The World Still Is But What The Kingdom Of God Breaking In Constantly Through History What The Kingdom Of God Breaking In In The Miracles And Signs And Wonders That Fill The Gospel Of John What The Kingdom Of God Is Doing Is What Earthly Powers Are Not [45:44] Able To Do It Is Changing This World For The Good Of Men And Women And For The Glory Of God Earthly Power Crumbles If You Love History All Empires Fail All Civilizations Crumble If You Love Politics All Political Careers And Parties End With Tears Sometimes Maybe They Get A Second Wind Or A Third Wind Or They Go Again Or They Reinvent Themselves But Really Earthly Power Runs Out Of Ideas Earthly Power Runs Out Of Wisdom Pilate Thinks He Has Power Pilate [46:46] Pilate Has Made Up His Mind To Reject Heaven's King But Jesus Says To Him Verse 11 You The Man With Soldiers And The Man Who Can Bind Me And The Man Who Can Crucify Me You Would Have No Authority Over Me At All Unless It Had Been Given You From Above And Amazingly Jesus Isn't Too Hard On Pilate Jesus Holds The Leadership Of The Jews As Being More Guilty Than Pilate The Roman Governor The Roman Politician He's Behaving Like An Earthly Man Of Earthly Power But Surely The High Priest [47:46] Of Israel Should Have Known Better Surely The Bible Loving Law Loving Torah Loving Pharisee Should Have Known Better Surely The People Of Israel The Ordinary People Of Jerusalem Should Have Known Better And Yet At The End Of Verse 11 Therefore He Who Delivered Me Over To You Has The Greater Sin You And I Know God Is King We Know It We Know That Jesus Christ Is Lord We Know There Is An Authority And A Sovereignty That Belongs To Jesus We Know The Second Psalm And How The Second Psalm Ends And If You And I Still Choose To Push Back Against God's Kingdom [48:46] How Foolish We Are And If We Place Ourselves Outside The Authority Of God And His Son How Foolish We Are And If We Imagine That We Can Choose Which Parts Of The Bible To Believe And Obey And Which Parts To Ignore How Foolish We Are The Nations Cannot Do It The Church Cannot Do It Behold The Man Behold Your King In Verses 14 And 15 Shall I Crucify Your King What A Terrible Answer They Give In Verse 15 This Is The End For Unbelieving Israel We Have No King [49:47] But Caesar Our Messiah Has Come He Was Born Of A Virgin In Bethlehem Like The Prophet Said He He Opened The Eyes Of The Blind Like The Prophet Said He Opened The Ears Of The Death Like The Prophet Said He Brought Righteousness And Justice A New Exodus A New Freedom Like The Prophet Said He He Spoke And Taught And No Man Had Ever Spoken Taught Like Him And With An Authority That Was Quite Unlike Others His Miracles His Words His Signs All Say I Am That He Is God And Israel Takes Him And Hands Him Over To Rome And Says You Release Barabbas The Murderer And Kill [50:47] The Man Who Says He's Our King We Have No King But Caesar Imagine Imagine If You Or I Were To Say We Have No King But Satan We Have No King But Self But When We Willfully Disobey The Word Of God And The Gospel Call The Invitation And The Command To Repent To Believe To Be Saved We Are Saying Caesar Is My King This World Is The Kingdom I Want Success Here And Now Is What I Want We Are Making The Same Awful Dreadful Self Destructive Choice That Ancient [51:47] Israel Made The Idol Of The 21st Century Is It's Not Caesar Is Lord The Idol Of The 21st Century Is I Am Lord My Freedom My Autonomy My Choice That's Why We Harden Our Hearts Over Euthanasia That's Why We Harden Our Hearts Over Destroying The Unborn That's Why We Harden Our Hearts Against God's Good Plans For Us We Rewrite Sense Personal Autonomy I'll Choose My Way Because I Am God Well It Didn't Work Out For Pilate His [52:48] Career Did Not End Well He Thought He Had Made The Best Political Bargain That He Could But He Was Soon Deposed And Although The Historian Eusebius Wrote Some Centuries After That Time He Seems To Have Access To Good Sources Eusebius Is A Reliable Historian Of The Early Church And He Says In The Fourth Century That The Romans Forced Pilate To Commit Suicide Because He'd Fallen Out Of Favor With The Emperor He Saw The Man Saw The King And Tried To Condemn Him The Jews Wanted Peace In Jerusalem A [53:49] Deal With The Romans That Would Keep Them In Power Keep Their Temple Going Within That Generation Their City Was Destroyed By The Romans Their Temple Was Destroyed So That Not One Stone Stood On Top Of Another Their Sacrifices Were Stopped Forever Their Temple Will Never Be Rebuilt Their Nation Was Gone From History And The Nation That Exists Today Is Not A Spiritual Entity Like Ancient Israel Was They Have Removed Themselves From The Olive Tree That God Planted May God Have Mercy On Them So That They Are Regrafted And Fruitful Again But [54:50] In Large Measure Israel Has Chosen Death Not Life Pray For Them Don't Do What These Politicians Did Two Thousand Years Ago Don't Condemn God's King Heaven's King Because He's Working Out His Purposes He Is Always In Control He Is The King From Above Don't Follow A Caesar Don't Follow Yourself Follow Jesus Right at The Beginning Of John's Gospel John Chapter 1 Verse 11 John Gives Us The Whole Story Of This Gospel And In A Sense The Whole Story Of The World When [55:52] The Word Was Made Flesh He Came To His Own He Came To His Own People He Came Home And His Own People Did Not Receive Him What A Tragedy But The Application For My Heart And The Application For Your Heart Must Be That We Don't Make The Same Dreadful Mistake And Imagine That We Can Live Apart From The Kingship And Sovereignty And Mercy Of Jesus Perhaps Pilate Was Was Mocking When He Asked Shall I Crucify Your King Behold The Man Behold Your King But Do You Know In Chapter 18 Verses 39 And 40 At The End Of Chapter 18 He Made An Offer To The People Of Jerusalem He [56:53] Offered To Let A Man A Condemned Man Go Do You Want Me To Release To You The King Of The Jews There He Is Jesus I'm Offering Him To You And They Cried Out Not This Man But Barabbas The Robber Well When You Come To Church Sunday By Sunday When Your Ministers James And Callum Lift Up Jesus To You And When They Invite You To Hear And Believe And Repent And Find Peace And Salvation In A Way Far More Wonderful Than The Offer That Pilate Made They Are Offering You Jesus And When We Gather For A Communion Weekend Around [57:53] The Preaching Of The Word The Singing Of God's Praise And Bread And Wine That Signpost His Body And His Blood God Is Offering You Jesus So So Do you Want Me To Release To You The King Of The Jews So Do you Want Your King I Cannot Answer For You May God Help Me And May God Help You To Answer Do you Want This Man And Do you Want Him To Be King If [58:54] We Say No We Are Crucifying Him Again And Psalm 2 Warns Us That That Will Not End Well The Second Psalm Is Imploring The World Its Rulers Its Kings And All Of Us Here Come To The Son Honor The Son Love The Son Kiss The Son Serve The Son Witness For The Son Be On The Side Of The Son For He Is Glorious He Is Lord What Can You Do For Him Today And In The Days To Come Oh Lord Help Us To Behold The Man To [59:55] Behold The King And When He Is Offered To Us In The Gospel And In The Sign Of The Supper May We Take Him By Faith And Feed Upon Him May We Kiss The Son Amen We're Going To Conclude Our Service Tonight By Singing To God's Praise From The Sing Psalms Version Of Psalm 118 A Great Passover Psalm Sung At Passover Time Year After Year In Jerusalem Sung By Jesus And The Apostles In The Upper Room Along With The Other Psalms Roundabout Psalm 118 From Verse 21 To 29 To The End Of The Psalm You Answered Me I Will Give Thanks Salvation Comes From You Alone We Stand And Sing Together [60:55] You Answered Me I Will Give Thanks Salvation Comes From You Alone The Stone The Builders Have Refused Has Now Become The Cornerstone The Lord Himself Has Done All This It Is The Inner Side This Is The Day The Lord Has [61:56] Made In It Let Us Make Great Delight Save Us O Lord We Humbly Pray O Lord We Pray Thou Dost Success He Is Blessed Who Comes In God's Great Name You From The Lord As We Will Bless The Lord Is God And He Has Made This Glorious Light Upon Us Fall [62:57] Let Us Approach The Altars Orts And Celebrate The Festival You Are You Are My God I'll Give You Thanks You Are My God I'll Give You Praise God Thank The Lord For He Is Good His Dead Past Love Endures Always Save the blessing Of Christ The King Now To Him Who Is Able To Keep You From Stumbling And To Present [63:57] You Blameless Before The Presence Of His Glory With Great Joy To The Only God Our Saviour Through Jesus Christ Our Lord Be Glory Majesty Dominion And Authority Before All Time And Now And Forever Amen Amenini Thank you.