Then they took Jesus to 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.
Then Pilate came out to them and said, What charge
do you bring against this man? And they answered
him, If this man weren't a criminal, we wouldn't
have handed him over to you. So Pilate told them,
Take him yourselves and judge him according to
your law. It's not legal for us to put anyone
to death, the Jews declared. They said this so
that Jesus' words might be fulfilled, signifying
what kind of death he was going to die. Then
Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned
Jesus, and said to him, Are you the king of the
Jews? Jesus answered. Are you asking this on
your own or have others told you about me? I
am 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. As it is,
my kingdom does not have its origins here. You
are a king then, Pilate asked. 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. What is truth, said Pilate. Let
us pray. God, we come to you this morning and
I pray that in these few minutes that your Holy
Spirit would be in this place, God. There is
not a good word that can come from my mouth,
dear Lord, if it does not come from you. There
is not a word that we will hear today, dear Lord,
if we do not open our ears and open our hearts
and allow your Holy Spirit to work in us. So
whatever sin or whatever worry or whatever stress
or whatever distractions that we have brought
into this place, I pray, God, that in this moment
that we would give those things to you. God,
I pray that you would keep us free from any attacks
of the enemy, dear Lord, that today your word
would speak to us, that today, dear Lord, Jesus
would be glorified. I pray that you would...
Hide me behind the cross, dear Lord, that I would
preach and teach in a way that brings glory to
you, that you take away any pride or fear that
I have, dear Lord, and that you just do a mighty
work in this place today. And so I pray that
in these few minutes, God, you would bless us.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Before this event took place, Jesus had spent
about three years of his life. ministering, going
all over, covering miles and miles, and really,
really pouring into his 12 apostles who were
with him everywhere he went. And he was teaching
them, and he was preaching to them, and he was
showing them, and he was helping them to understand
things that weren't always easy to understand.
And Jesus had done this because this was his
mission. This is what he was sent for. This is
what he was called to do. But Jesus also knew
that his mission was soon drawing to a close.
It wasn't long before this that Jesus had had
the final supper with his apostles, that he had
prepared them for what was about to take place,
that Jesus had left them with the most beautiful
example. of humility and love that I think we
see in Scripture apart from His death and resurrection.
And that was when He washed His disciples' feet
and He humbled Himself and He said, this is the
way that you live, that you humble yourself,
that you become... a servant of all and he he
left this last message with them and and soon
jesus would go into the garden of gethsemane
and he would begin to pray and he would begin
to seek god in the most difficult hour of his
life which is something that you and i need to
do Sometimes we fail to realize that. Sometimes
in the midst of our darkest times, we get so
caught up in the worries and the stresses of
what we can do that we forget that we serve a
God who is in control. And it's not our will,
but it's God's will. And Jesus went and he poured
his heart out to the Father. And he prayed that
if there was any way that God would deliver him,
that he could deliver him, that it would happen.
But it was not the will of God. And Jesus prayed
such, God, not my will be done, but your will
be done. It wasn't long after Jesus prayed this
prayer that he was arrested. And soon those who
were closest to him were all gone. They all deserted
him. You would think that the apostles would
be those who would be standing beside Jesus,
who would not be afraid of a single thing. They
had seen Jesus' miracles. They had heard his
word. They knew who he was. They believed who
he was. They trusted him and had faith in him
apart from Judas. And you would think that this
group of men, of all people, would have stood
by Jesus. But they all fled. In Jesus' deepest,
darkest hour, they all fled. And Jesus was left
alone to face a mock trial. It was a mock trial.
There was no question as to what the verdict
would be. It had been decided years in advance.
It had been decided that Jesus was a problem
for the religious people. He was a problem for
the chief priest. He was a problem for the Sanhedrin
and the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He was a
problem because he came and began to preach a
gospel and a message that differed from what
they believed and what they wanted to believe.
They had the word of God. They knew the word
of God, but they really didn't know the word
of God. And Jesus had come and he had begun to
preach to them and to teach to them. to try to
help them to understand what the word of God
meant. And for three years, they had completely
and totally missed it. After all the miracles
and after all of the teachings, many of God's
very own people were those who had chosen to
put Jesus to death. After he stood his trial,
he was mocked and beaten, and he was taken to
Pilate. And we see that in our... story that
we have read today in these verses. Pilate was
a Roman governor at the time and the Romans didn't
care too much about the Jewish way of life. It
wasn't a real big issue. They knew that the Jewish
people had their ways but it wasn't a big issue.
The Romans just kind of let the Jews do their
thing and as long as they all kind of pledged
allegiance to Caesar there wasn't going to be
any problem. And the Jews didn't want to kill
Jesus themselves, and so they took him to Pilate.
And here we see in the Scriptures Jesus' interaction
with Pilate. Pilate really doesn't care one way
or the other about Jesus. It's of no concern
to him. He tries on multiple occasions to get
the Jewish people to drop the charges, so to
speak. Let this man go. He's done nothing wrong.
But the Jewish people are very persistent. that
there is only one outcome that is suitable for
Jesus, and that is for Jesus to die. So here
we see Pilate and Jesus talking with one another.
And Pilate asked Jesus, Are you the king? Are
you a king? Jesus says, You say that I am. And
as Jesus continues on, he says something that
I think is interesting. He says, I was... born
for this. I was born for this. Jesus knew exactly
what his mission was. This did not come as a
surprise to Jesus. Jesus says, I am here before
you, Pilate, not because of your authority, not
because of the Jewish people's authority, but
I am here before you under God's authority. I
am only here because this is the will of my Father.
I was born for this. I am here because this is
my mission. This is what I was called to. This
is what my Father has prepared me for. And this
is what I come for, is to do the will of the
Father. This is what I was born for. I was born...
To tell the truth. I was born to speak the truth.
I was born to teach the truth. And Pilate asked
him a really good question. Pilate says, what
is truth? That's a good question for us to answer
today. We seem to have trouble in our society
of figuring out what truth is. Our society doesn't
really understand what truth is. In our society,
truth is whatever you want it to be. There's
this phrase, you've probably heard it before,
my truth. You ever heard that before? You ever
said that before? Well, that's your truth. Sometimes
we'll say something to somebody and they'll say,
well, that's your truth and this is my truth.
Well, that's not the way that truth works. Truth
is truth. Now, we don't always like it. We may
not agree with it. But there is a truth. There
are things in this world that are true whether
we choose to believe them or not, whether we
agree with them or not. They are true. And Pilate
says, what is truth? And I'll tell you today
the answer to that question. And the answer to
that question is Jesus. Jesus says, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is truth
today. It is God's word that is truth today.
Don't get caught up in the lies of the world.
Because the world will tell you a lot of lies.
They will feed them to you as if they are truth,
and they are not. Our world... has compromised
things that God has said, these things are sinful,
these things are bad, and this is truth. But
our world says, we want to do these things. We
want to live in these sins. And so therefore,
we begin to get lax and we begin to give in a
little more and a little more and a little more
into sin as individuals and as a world. And look
at where this gets us. It always gets us into
the same predicament. Every time we cave and
we begin to live and believe a lie and we sacrifice
the truth, it affects us. It hurts us. It breaks
us. And we fall into this trap. We fall into
this trap of saying, man, it's 2025. Man, things
have changed. Man, God's word says this, but...
Surely he didn't really mean this, or surely
he didn't really mean that. And we begin to see
the way the world lives, and we begin to see
that the world lives in a lie, and we begin to
accept that lie as truth, and we begin to live
a lie. And we begin to replace the truth with
a lie, and it leaves us broken, and it leaves
us empty, and it leaves us just completely drained.
And we don't know why that is. It's because we've
traded in the truth for a lie. God does not change.
We've changed a lot as a people. We've changed
a lot as a world, but I can guarantee you this,
God has not changed. And what God says is good
is good, and what God says is sin is sin. But
it's 2025, man. I don't care what year it is.
God's word hadn't changed. Divorce is still wrong.
God still expects a man to stay married to his
wife and a wife to stay married to her husband.
God still expects children to honor their parents.
God still expects parents to love their children.
God still expects us not to lie, cheat, and steal.
God still expects us not to gossip. God still
expects us not to do a whole host of things that
we have considered and thought to ourselves that
they are acceptable because everybody else is
doing it. And some of you grew up in the church,
and we find ourselves living in sin, and we try
to justify it, and all the while we know we are
living in sin. And it's time for us to wake up
in our life possibly and stop living a lie and
stop believing a lie and say, God, I hadn't been
listening to your word. I know it and I need
to accept that it's truth and I need to live
on that truth. Truth is Jesus Christ. There's
a lot of things that people will tell you in
this world that are lies that are not true. But
I can tell you one thing today that is true,
has been true, and will always be true, and that
is Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And He came
into this world to die on a cross so that your
sins could be forgiven, not so that we could
continue to live in them. And Jesus says, I'm
ready for my mission. He says, I was born for
this. I was born for this, Pilate. I was born
to bring truth into the world. I was born to
bring a light into the darkness. I am ready to
do what my Father has called me to do. And praise
God for us that He was. Because we have a big
problem. And we are big sinners. Every one of
us in this room, we sin and we sin greatly. Often,
maybe every day, maybe multiple times a day.
And Jesus said, even though you're a sinner,
he said, I will pay the price for your sin. You
may say, well, why did Jesus even have to do
that? Because the wages of sin is death. That's
the punishment for our sin. You read through
the scripture, you read through the Old Testament,
the punishment for sin is death. The only way
death can be covered is with life. That's why
in the Old Testament the sacrifices had to take
place. That's why the animals were killed. The
scripture says the life of the creature is in
its blood. And therefore, when we sin, our sins
are deserving of death, and therefore they need
to be covered in life. And so in the Old Testament,
God said you can sacrifice animals and sprinkle
that blood, and that blood can bring life to
you and atone for your sins, but only momentarily.
Because the people would continually sin again.
And so it's already written, it's already established
that God is a just God, deal with sin. It must
be dealt with. He cannot sweep it under the rug.
That's not the way justice works. Justice works
by a crime being dealt with, by the proper punishment
being given for the crime that was committed.
God cannot just pretend like sin does not exist.
It does exist. He cannot sweep it under a rug.
He has to deal with it. Death has to occur. There
has to be punishment for our sinfulness. Now
God had two options. Option one, he could just
let us all die. He could kill us. He could say,
done. You're on trial. Did you sin? Yes. You're
guilty. What's the punishment? Death. Next. Adam
and Eve came into the world. God took them to
the Garden of Eden, told them what not to do.
They didn't listen to him. Sin entered the world.
The effects of sin began to reign. Death began
to reign. Here is the problem. That was option
number one. God could have just let death reign.
God could have just let us live in our sin and
die in our sin. Or option number two. God could
atone for our sin. Because there's no way that
you can atone for it. Now you may be trying to,
but you can't. You may have come to church today
thinking you're going to atone for your sin.
You're not. God sees through that. God sees through
all of them. They didn't go to church every Easter,
so therefore that's good enough. That's not the
way God works. He's not going to look at your
life history when you get to heaven and say,
well, they went every Christmas and every Easter,
so at least they made an effort. That's not the
way God works. We cannot atone for our own sins.
You cannot do enough good works. You cannot go
to church enough. You cannot put enough money
in the offering plates. You cannot do that. You
cannot buy God's forgiveness. So God had to come
up with a solution. If we're going to have our
sins atoned for, if he's not just going to let
us die and rot in hell, then God had to come
up with a solution, and the solution was Jesus
Christ. The solution was that he would send his
only son. He would send his only son to live
a perfect and sinless life. You know why Pilate
couldn't find anything that Jesus was guilty
of? Because Jesus wasn't guilty of anything.
And when he asked the Jews why they brought Jesus,
what did he do? They said, well, he must have
done something or we wouldn't have brought him
to you. Now, what kind of response is that? They
didn't even have a reason why. Just take our
word for it. We brought him to you. He must be
guilty. We wouldn't bring an innocent man. And
Pilate questions him and he says, look, this
is an innocent man. Praise God for us, he was.
He was perfect and sinless in every way. Because
you and I were not. So he had to be. And when
Jesus was taken from Pilate, he was beaten, he
was mocked, and he was nailed to a cross. And
you need to think about that sometime if you
hadn't thought about it. And you need to really
think about that. We may hear it so much it just
goes in one ear and out the other. Oh, Jesus
was nailed to a cross. You think for just a moment
how excruciating that whole process was. That
he was ridiculed. That a crown of thorn was shoved
onto his head. That he was beaten mercifully.
Mercifully. He was forced to carry his own cross
as far as he could. And then he was nailed to
it. And why in the world would somebody do such
a thing? Why in the world would somebody suffer
in such a way? He did it because he loves you.
He did it. He knows your sin. He knows what you
were guilty of. He knew what you were going to
do. And Jesus took all of that because he loves
you. And that day, Jesus became the sacrifice.
Far greater than the sacrifices of the past.
Yeah, they sacrificed those animals in the past,
but God's Word says that the blood of goats and
bulls would never be sufficient to cover the
sins of humanity. Only the precious blood of
Jesus Christ. A sacrifice had to be given. Death
had to occur. The punishment for sin had to be
carried out. And God could either allow us to
carry the burden of that consequence or he could
carry it for us. And he did just that. Jesus
died on a cross because he loves you. Jesus died
on a cross because there is no way that your
sins can be forgiven today apart from him. There
is no more important truth. than you will ever
hear in your life, than that of Jesus Christ.
That He is the Son of God, crucified, and most
importantly, resurrected. That through Jesus
Christ, we can gain victory over our sin, and
victory over death today, because Jesus was victorious
over sin. And Jesus was victorious over death.
And that is the truth. And you might not believe
it. I can't make you believe it. Maybe you've
heard it a million times before you came in here
today. It's the truth. It's still the truth.
And the question is, are you going to believe
that truth today? Are you going to really give
your... to Jesus Christ? Are you going to live
for him? Are you going to put your faith and
trust in him? I'm not talking about just coming
to church. It's easy just to come to church.
It's a lot harder to live for Jesus. It's hard
to live by the word of God. It calls us to things
that we don't want to do. It calls us to things
that wage war against our flesh and our desires
in this world. It is hard to follow Jesus. It
is hard to love our enemies and pray for those
who persecute us. It is hard to do the right
thing sometimes. It's hard to love our neighbor
as ourselves sometimes. It's hard. Going to church
is easy. But living for Jesus is not, and that's
what he calls us to. He calls us to live for
him. He calls us to put our faith and trust in
him. The question is, will you follow Jesus today?
When Jesus was nailed on the cross, there were
two criminals beside him. One on either side.
In the gospel accounts, we see that both of those
men who were crucified beside him were mocking
him. Somewhere along the way, something changed
though. One of the men changed their heart. In
Luke chapter 23, you can go and read that story.
I'll read you a portion of it this morning. If
you want to turn there, you can. Luke chapter
23, verse 39. Luke chapter 23, verse 39. It says,
Then one of the criminals hanging there began
to yell insults at him. Aren't you the Messiah?
Save yourself and us. Now, let's pay attention
to these two criminals here and their response.
In the other accounts, we see that they mock
Jesus, and we don't really have any detail. But
here, as the hours are winding down on their
lives, we see some information about these two.
Now, while Jesus is hanging on the cross, he's
been mocked this whole time. He has been mocked
by those who are there with him, in front of
him, and they are saying things like, if you
really are the Son of God, come down from that
cross. If you are so good, if you're the Messiah,
then show us your power. And listen to what this
criminal hanging beside him says. He says, aren't
you the Messiah? Well, that's a pretty good response.
Maybe he does believe that Jesus is Messiah.
But I think not. Aren't you the Messiah? Save
yourself and us. Now this criminal doesn't seem
to care about Jesus really at all. Other than
the fact that if you have the power, could you
just save me? Hey, why don't you just get me
off of this cross? Whoever you are, if you are
the Messiah, why don't you just do this thing
that they're mocking you about? Why don't you
come down from this cross and why don't you just
get me off the cross too? Now as we continue
to read this text, it seems pretty clear that
this criminal's heart was not in the right place.
What this criminal wanted was not a Messiah that
he could serve, but a Messiah who would serve
him. He didn't care about Jesus being the Messiah.
He cared about getting off the cross. And if
Jesus could get him off the cross, then so be
it. Listen to what happens as the scripture continues
in verse 40. But the other criminal answered,
rebuking him. Don't you even fear God since you
are undergoing the same punishment? Now the other
criminal knew what was going on here. He rebuked
this first criminal. He said, hey, why are you
saying these things? Why do you have this heart?
You need to recognize what has taken place. Don't
you fear God? If this man really is the Messiah,
shouldn't you be acting a little differently
toward him? Shouldn't you be treating him with
some reverence here? And the other criminal rebuked
him. And listen to what he says in verse 41.
We are punished justly because we are getting
back what we deserve for the things we did. You
know what that criminal did right there? He just
confessed his sins. Right there on the cross,
he just confessed his sins. He knew two things.
That Jesus was the Messiah, and he knew that
he was a sinner. And he said, look, to the other
criminal. He said, you are mocking Jesus just
like these other folks. He says, you need to
fear God because, look, we should be here. We
don't have anything to complain about. We deserve
to die. We have committed horrible crimes. We
have sinned in horrible ways and done horrible
things. We deserve to be here. And there in that
moment, in the last moments of this criminal's
life, he confessed his sins. He knew that he
was a sinner. And listen to what he says going
forward. But this man has done nothing wrong.
Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. Isn't that a beautiful story?
Two criminals both mocking Jesus at some point
in time. One of them has a change of heart. One
of them just wants a Jesus who will do what he
says. I don't really want to follow you, Jesus.
I don't really care about you, Jesus. I don't
know if you're the Messiah. I don't care if you're
the Messiah. But would you just do something
for me? And isn't that the kind of Jesus that
some people want today? I don't really care that
much about Jesus. Yeah, maybe he's the Messiah.
Maybe not. I don't know. But would you bless
me anyway? Would you just do good to me? I don't
want to do anything for you, Jesus. I don't want
to sacrifice any of my time to serve you. I don't
want to sacrifice any of my money to serve you.
I don't want to go to church to praise you. I
don't want to help other people. I don't want
to pray for my enemies. I don't want to do any
of that. But Jesus, could you just do stuff for
me? And that's the heart of many people in our
world today, and maybe some in this room. We
want to serve a Jesus that just serves us and
does for us. But that's not what Scripture calls
us to. And if that's what our heart is, then
we don't know Jesus. Because when you know Jesus,
you want to serve Jesus. When you know Jesus,
you're like the other criminal. When you know
Jesus, you fear God. When you know Jesus, you
say, look, Jesus, I have sinned greatly. You
have done nothing wrong. You are the Son of God.
You are the Messiah. Would you remember me? Would
you allow me into your kingdom, Jesus? That's
the heart that God wants us to have. It's a heart
that seeks the man who has died on a cross for
us. And there is hope for us today. Not if we're
like the first criminal. Not if we're simply
seeking a Jesus who will do what we want. Jesus
is not a genie in a lamp. Jesus is the Son of
God. He did not exist to grant our every wish.
He came for one purpose. He knew what that purpose
was, and he told Pilate, I was born for this.
He was born to die, and he did so willingly so
that you and I could be like that second criminal
and say, Jesus, I've sinned, but can I be in
your kingdom? And listen to what Jesus says to
him in verse 43. And he said to him, I assure
you today you will be with me in paradise. It's
never too late. It's never too late. That criminal
didn't have many breaths left in his lungs, but
he had enough breaths to call out to Jesus, what
about you today? What about you today? Maybe
the Holy Spirit's been convicting you today.
Maybe He's been convicting you for a few weeks
or a few months or a couple of years. Maybe today
you realize there's some sin in your life and
you've been okay with it. You've been living
the lie and you've been believing it and you've
been sacrificing the truth for a lie. But I want
to tell you today that Jesus Christ is the truth
and in Him there is forgiveness of sins. If we
would just call out to Him today. If we would
just confess our sins and ask Jesus to forgive
our sins, he'll do so. And he can do so. And
he alone can do so. Because he died on a cross.
And Jesus says to that criminal, you'll be with
me in paradise. You'll be in my kingdom. And
so it is for us today. That if we would trust
in Jesus Christ today, that we would enter the
kingdom of God. It was a dark day that day that
Jesus was nailed to a cross. But it was a beautiful
day three days later when Jesus rose from the
grave. And that's why we're here today. That's
why every year at this time we come and we remember
this event. That's why every Sunday we come.
Year after year of our life we come. And we sit
on these pews day after day. We read the same
words that we have read time and again in God's
Word because there is no strength, there is no
guidance, there is no help in anything else other
than Jesus Christ. And so we come today and we
rejoice in who Jesus is and in what He's done.
If you don't know Him today, I pray that you
would. If there's sin in your life today, I pray
that you would confess it. I pray that you'd
trust in Jesus Christ before you leave. Let's
pray. God, we come to you. We thank you for your
word. We thank you for who Jesus is. We thank
you that, God, he was so willing to be faithful
to you, that he was willing to serve you and
to humble himself all the way to death, death
on a cross, dear Lord. And I pray today that
we recognize the significance and the power and
the importance of that. God, maybe there are
some in here today and they do not know who Jesus
is. They know about him, but maybe they've never
confessed their sins. Maybe they've never repented.
Maybe they've never trusted him and put their
faith in him. God, that's what you call us to.
We are saved by faith, dear Lord. We're not saved
by coming to church on Easter or any other day.
But we are saved by faith. If we would just confess
our sins, dear Lord, it's not too late. God,
maybe there are some in here today and they wonder
if you love them. I pray today that they would
know that you do. If they question it, let them
just look to the cross and what Jesus has done
for them. God, maybe there are some that come
here today and they are seeking truth. I pray
today that they know that there is no truth except
for your word, dear Lord. There's no truth greater
than Jesus Christ. If we need to find truth,
dear Lord, let us look no further than the cross
and the pages of Scripture. God, maybe there
are some here today and they're yours, but dear
Lord, we get off track sometimes and we begin
to believe the things that the world says are
okay. We begin to justify them and we begin to
accept a lot of lies. Dear Lord, I pray today
that we would stop that. If there's some of these
things going on, that we just would give those
things to you, that we would repent of those
things, God, and that we would just seek your
word and seek to live by your word and seek to
live by your will and seek to live by your truth.
So God, I pray that as we have this song of invitation,
if there is one here today that does not know
Jesus Christ, that maybe even in this moment,
God, they have confessed their sins and they
know their need for a Savior. I pray, God, that
if any has made that decision today, that as
we sing, they would come forward. And let us
know that, that we can rejoice with them. God,
maybe there are some that just need to go before
you now and pour their heart out. Maybe they
need help. Maybe they need to repent. Whatever
it is, God, I pray that they would take this
time to respond to you. God, if anybody needs
prayer, I pray that they'd come forward, dear
Lord. I'll be glad to pray for them. But I pray
right now that everybody that's here will know
the truth of the love of Jesus Christ. And I
ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.