WEBVTT 00:00:19.251 --> 00:00:25.859 I believe we're having some worship already this morning, Man, powerful morning. Baptisms. 00:00:25.859 --> 00:00:26.960 The name of Jesus. 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:30.163 Staying focused on that king above all kings. 00:00:30.163 --> 00:00:37.237 Powerful morning To morning’s-- this morning's passage, leading up to it, I thought of a story I heard a while back. 00:00:37.237 --> 00:00:43.509 Where, and you may have had these moments in life where you wonder what's really going on here? 00:00:43.509 --> 00:00:49.082 I'm trying to sort out the situation and I'm not sure what's true and what's not. 00:00:49.082 --> 00:00:54.087 And you dive into these situations and you're trying to navigate them and there's confusion. 00:00:54.087 --> 00:01:08.834 So I read this story recently about Sergeant Anthony Gibbs of the Guthrie Police Department, routine traffic stop pulls over Steven Jennings, Rachel Rivera, and just a routine stop. 00:01:08.834 --> 00:01:09.968 They had expired tags. 00:01:09.968 --> 00:01:11.203 That was it. 00:01:11.203 --> 00:01:15.340 Well, soon they learned there's more to the story. 00:01:15.408 --> 00:01:18.076 Jennings was driving with an expired license. 00:01:18.076 --> 00:01:23.516 Rivera was a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, both placed under arrest. 00:01:23.516 --> 00:01:26.786 The vehicle was impounded because of lack of insurance. 00:01:26.786 --> 00:01:30.423 It was later discovered the vehicle had been stolen. 00:01:30.423 --> 00:01:36.629 So one thing after another piling up-- it gets better or worse, depending on how you see it. 00:01:36.629 --> 00:01:43.635 When the impoundment of the vehicle begins and they start moving things around in the car, they find a rattlesnake in the backseat. 00:01:43.635 --> 00:01:44.736 Of course. 00:01:44.736 --> 00:01:45.537 Right. 00:01:45.537 --> 00:01:49.275 Who doesn't travel with a live rattlesnake. 00:01:49.275 --> 00:01:52.477 It was surprising to say the least, said Officer Gibbs. 00:01:52.477 --> 00:01:59.018 As they continued to search the vehicle, they spotted an open bottle of Kentucky Deluxe whiskey near another firearm. 00:01:59.018 --> 00:02:05.391 Then they discovered a container of yellowish powder labeled uranium. 00:02:05.490 --> 00:02:09.162 Of course, what in the world is going on here? 00:02:09.162 --> 00:02:15.935 One thing after another. Come to find out, it did not appear that Jennings or Rivera were under the influence of alcohol. 00:02:15.935 --> 00:02:26.111 There's one bright note in the whole situation, and they were not charged with possession of uranium because they had a legal amount. 00:02:26.111 --> 00:02:30.582 Who knew that there was illegal amount of uranium to possess? 00:02:30.582 --> 00:02:32.217 You encounter this situation. 00:02:32.217 --> 00:02:36.322 You hear that and you go, what is the back story behind this? 00:02:36.322 --> 00:02:40.626 How did this couple, these two people end up in this situation? 00:02:40.626 --> 00:02:46.231 And I bet the sergeant involved in this is going what is the true story? What is false? 00:02:46.231 --> 00:02:49.467 What is going on? How do I sort this out? 00:02:49.467 --> 00:02:52.471 Because we want to be moving towards truth. 00:02:52.471 --> 00:02:55.040 We want our police officers to move towards truth. 00:02:55.040 --> 00:02:59.377 We want as ourselves, as followers of Christ, to be pursuing truth. 00:02:59.377 --> 00:03:02.114 How do we move towards truth? 00:03:02.181 --> 00:03:06.651 Today's passage, we're going to see this conflict around truth. 00:03:06.651 --> 00:03:15.627 In fact, the key idea here is we're going to see three kingdoms in conflict in the pursuit of truth, three different kingdoms in conflict here. 00:03:15.627 --> 00:03:26.538 And so we'll be in John chapter 18, continuing in that chapter on page 850 in your church Bible, if you have a church Bible, if you don't have a Bible, we have those in the connection corner. 00:03:26.538 --> 00:03:28.139 You can slip out at any time. 00:03:28.139 --> 00:03:34.447 We'll be reading from it in the paper copy of the Bible, or if you have an electronic copy that's fine as well. 00:03:34.447 --> 00:03:35.848 But we want to make it easy for you to find it. 00:03:35.848 --> 00:03:37.049 Grab one of those at any time. 00:03:37.049 --> 00:03:38.883 We're in John Chapter 18. 00:03:38.883 --> 00:03:47.293 And again, the key idea we're going to see here, Three Kingdoms in Conflict in their Quest for truth, combating one another in their quest for Truth. 00:03:47.293 --> 00:03:51.197 Three key kingdoms throughout this passage that we'll unpack. 00:03:51.263 --> 00:03:52.397 So chapter 18. 00:03:52.397 --> 00:03:59.070 Let's start in verse 28 and read this first group of verses here, John 18, verse 28. 00:03:59.070 --> 00:04:02.974 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. 00:04:02.974 --> 00:04:04.376 It was early morning. 00:04:04.376 --> 00:04:16.187 They themselves, these are the Jewish leaders, did not enter the governor's headquarters so that they would not be defiled and then could not eat the Passover. 00:04:16.187 --> 00:04:20.925 Pilate went outside to them and said, What accusations do you bring against this man? 00:04:20.925 --> 00:04:26.165 They answered him, If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you. 00:04:26.165 --> 00:04:28.600 Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves. 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:30.636 judge him by your own law. 00:04:30.636 --> 00:04:35.374 The Jews said to him, It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death. 00:04:35.374 --> 00:04:42.982 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken, to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 00:04:43.081 --> 00:04:53.158 So the situation here coming off last week when Jesus had been interrogated by Annas, he was then delivered to Caiaphas, the other reigning high priest at the time. 00:04:53.158 --> 00:05:05.571 But now we jump right into where he's being interrogated by Pilate, so we don't really get the conversation that happened with Caiaphas, but we'll get hints of what happened, the interrogation that happened in that moment. 00:05:05.571 --> 00:05:08.673 It shows up in the other gospels as well. 00:05:08.673 --> 00:05:15.913 But they bring Jesus to Pilate and Pilate begins to interrogate Jesus in particular. 00:05:15.913 --> 00:05:22.687 Now, just prior to this, though, the Jews who bring him make an interesting point. 00:05:22.687 --> 00:05:26.492 Pilate asked them, Hey, what's the charge you bring? 00:05:26.492 --> 00:05:37.069 And they simply say, he's evil and you should take our word for that because we said it. 00:05:37.168 --> 00:05:44.242 This starts to point at and we're going to see this unpack the first kingdom in conflict here. 00:05:44.242 --> 00:05:47.713 The first one we see are with these Jewish leaders. 00:05:47.713 --> 00:05:56.687 And I would say these religious leaders, the kingdom that's governing them is their religious self-righteousness. 00:05:56.687 --> 00:06:05.096 They've become so blinded to the presence of God by their own religion and rituals and rules. 00:06:05.096 --> 00:06:15.807 In fact, you see it here in one of these first phrases where it says in verse 28, they brought Jesus to the governor's headquarters, but they themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters. 00:06:15.807 --> 00:06:22.247 So, Pilate, we want you to deal with him, but we're not willing to come in near you. 00:06:22.247 --> 00:06:26.918 You know, they were they were worried about being defiled so that couldn't participate. 00:06:26.918 --> 00:06:28.553 There were certain Jewish laws around. 00:06:28.553 --> 00:06:32.290 If you entered a Gentiles home, some of those things, you'd be defiled. 00:06:32.290 --> 00:06:34.927 It may just be for a short time, depending on what it was. 00:06:34.927 --> 00:06:38.396 I mean, if it was just leaven from leavened bread, it'd just be that day. 00:06:38.396 --> 00:06:40.199 If it was a dead body, it might be a lot longer. 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:41.567 But they didn't. 00:06:41.666 --> 00:06:42.533 They didn't want to risk it. 00:06:42.533 --> 00:06:43.601 Which the irony here is. 00:06:43.601 --> 00:06:48.839 Pilate, we want you to do our dirty work, but we want to keep our hands clean. 00:06:48.839 --> 00:06:54.879 It reminds me a little and you've seen this movie because it's been done a hundred different versions by a variety of different actors. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:59.151 It's those movies where you have this nefarious arms dealer. 00:06:59.151 --> 00:07:03.187 You know, they're selling weapons of war all over the world and everybody hates them. 00:07:03.187 --> 00:07:07.158 And somebody from the government, the FBI, some agency arrests them, puts them in prison. 00:07:07.158 --> 00:07:11.129 They think they've landed the career case of their life. 00:07:11.129 --> 00:07:16.567 And all of a sudden, some shadowy figure shows up and says they're free to go. 00:07:16.567 --> 00:07:19.504 And ever the guy's just distraught. 00:07:19.504 --> 00:07:20.137 What do you mean? 00:07:20.137 --> 00:07:24.509 This guy so evil he can't be let go! And of course, you hear the speech. 00:07:24.509 --> 00:07:27.079 We've heard about 100 different versions. 00:07:27.079 --> 00:07:38.557 Your government needs me if they want to keep their appearance, that their hands are clean, that they're not involved in this dirty arms business in the background, you need somebody like me. 00:07:38.557 --> 00:07:46.163 And here in this moment, the Jews, they don't want to get their own hands dirty, but they want the dirty work done. 00:07:46.163 --> 00:07:47.199 They need Pilate. 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:56.040 We don't want to get defiled, but we want to keep a hold of our religious rituals, even at forsaking the presence of God. 00:07:56.040 --> 00:08:10.055 In fact, I think a good phrase that sums this up their religious practices, ultimately what happened and you'll see this on screen, their religious practices blinded them to the presence of God. 00:08:10.120 --> 00:08:14.091 Here was God in human flesh, right in front of him. 00:08:14.091 --> 00:08:20.098 But we're committed to eating the Passover, whatever it takes. 00:08:20.098 --> 00:08:24.435 We're committed to seeing this evil thing done no matter what. 00:08:24.435 --> 00:08:31.175 We're committed to seeing it through and we're blinded. 00:08:31.175 --> 00:08:41.219 And I think it's important to pause here being that we are all in a church building and just take note of that. 00:08:41.219 --> 00:08:48.927 We are not above that tendency to put our religious practices, our traditions, our rituals above the presence of God. 00:08:48.927 --> 00:08:57.668 Those things can -- now, hopefully they draw us closer to God, but they can also, if we let them, blind us to his presence. 00:08:57.668 --> 00:09:02.240 We can't stand here in judgment on the Jews thinking we're better than them. 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:16.453 (Sigh.) Because my heart, man it can easily be led into thinking this practice, this thing I always do, is what makes me holy and miss the presence of God. 00:09:16.520 --> 00:09:17.989 There's a great quote I read this week. 00:09:17.989 --> 00:09:23.827 Look, I hope that when we're here, we always experience the presence of God. 00:09:23.827 --> 00:09:26.030 Bob Russell wrote about this in one of his books. I read this. 00:09:26.030 --> 00:09:27.197 Listen to what he said. 00:09:27.197 --> 00:09:32.669 In biblical worship, two ingredients always seem to be present. 00:09:32.669 --> 00:09:44.716 A sense of awe, wonder, overwhelmed with who he is, a sense of awe and a sense of joy. 00:09:44.716 --> 00:09:48.720 Those two things should mark biblical worship. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:10:02.232 And then the result of that, if we're overwhelmed with who he is, a sense of awe of who he is, filled with the joy and delight of who he is, even in the midst of sorrow and circumstances and grief and challenges, there's still an abiding joy. 00:10:02.232 --> 00:10:06.336 Those two things are true. 00:10:06.403 --> 00:10:13.778 The result of that is just an overwhelming sense of his presence, and I think that's what we all want. 00:10:13.778 --> 00:10:18.283 I mean, when I come here, I want to experience his presence. 00:10:18.283 --> 00:10:24.923 Yes, there are tasks to do, conversations to have, things to accomplish, but none of that matters if we don't experience his presence. 00:10:24.923 --> 00:10:25.856 That's what I want. 00:10:25.856 --> 00:10:28.659 I want to know his presence here with me. 00:10:28.659 --> 00:10:31.962 I want to know that he's around me. 00:10:31.962 --> 00:10:35.600 And regardless of what emotion you feel, I want to know that he is here. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:38.970 That's what we're striving for in all that we do. 00:10:38.970 --> 00:10:45.842 And one thing I've always loved about Valley View is that is maintained to be a high priority. 00:10:46.043 --> 00:10:47.477 We don't get it perfect. 00:10:47.477 --> 00:10:48.513 We're not perfect. 00:10:48.513 --> 00:10:49.746 We don’t always get it right. 00:10:49.746 --> 00:10:50.914 That's what we're striving for. 00:10:50.914 --> 00:10:53.650 And I've talked with person after person that says, You know what? 00:10:53.650 --> 00:10:56.453 If it were my-- if it were only up to me, I'd do it this way. 00:10:56.453 --> 00:11:00.692 But so that so many more know God's presence, we're doing this. 00:11:00.758 --> 00:11:02.427 And I love that. 00:11:02.427 --> 00:11:10.534 Young and old, defer, give up my rights, give up my privileges so that together, collectively, we worship. 00:11:10.534 --> 00:11:16.441 We know his presence, and we've got to be mindful of that tendency to be blinded to his presence. 00:11:16.441 --> 00:11:26.017 We're not somehow better than the people we read in the story without the presence of God. 00:11:26.083 --> 00:11:32.657 So that first Kingdom, that religious, self-righteous, we see a few other things come up here. 00:11:32.657 --> 00:11:39.730 Pilate says to them, what accusations do you bring? 00:11:39.797 --> 00:11:42.966 They want him to go along with their plan. 00:11:42.966 --> 00:11:44.634 Look, we're right. We thought of this. 00:11:44.634 --> 00:11:46.003 Jesus must be evil. 00:11:46.003 --> 00:11:48.206 Take care of him for us. 00:11:48.206 --> 00:11:52.210 But Pilate asks them, what accusations do you bring? 00:11:52.210 --> 00:11:57.948 I need specifics. Now, some think this is him merely dismissing them. 00:11:58.048 --> 00:12:02.687 Look, I don't want to mess with this religious argument between you. 00:12:02.687 --> 00:12:03.788 What accusation do you bring? 00:12:03.788 --> 00:12:06.224 Do you have anything of value? 00:12:06.224 --> 00:12:09.427 But I also think he's playing a bit of the political card. 00:12:09.427 --> 00:12:21.639 We have background information on Pilate that he had his ups and downs in this region because it's so long ago, you tend to think people were just these autonomous leaders who got appointed and everybody had to do everything they said. 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:24.908 But no, in the Roman world especially, there was a lot of politics going on. 00:12:24.908 --> 00:12:27.845 You could get a-- I mean, who wants to be stuck in Judea? 00:12:27.845 --> 00:12:30.114 He wants to move his way back up to Rome. 00:12:30.114 --> 00:12:33.683 There's a lot of politics going on at this time. 00:12:33.683 --> 00:12:36.687 And some when he says this, What accusation do you bring? 00:12:36.687 --> 00:12:40.890 Thinks this is just a gentle reminder to the Jews, You need me. 00:12:40.890 --> 00:12:41.859 You already know it. 00:12:41.859 --> 00:12:45.096 But I'm reminding you, you need me. 00:12:45.096 --> 00:12:49.799 If you want to see this go through, you need me. 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:51.836 And here's the here's the challenging part. 00:12:51.836 --> 00:12:55.472 The reality is they were both after the same thing. 00:12:55.472 --> 00:12:57.774 Both the religious leaders and Pilate. 00:12:57.774 --> 00:12:59.576 They're both after the same thing. 00:12:59.576 --> 00:13:04.514 They both just mainly were concerned about power. 00:13:04.548 --> 00:13:19.797 Their kingdom was about power, about control, about making sure that we did whatever it takes to keep power, even at the sake of the presence of God. 00:13:19.797 --> 00:13:22.767 So Pilate says, what accusations do you bring? 00:13:22.767 --> 00:13:27.403 They know they get the hint that they need him, but look at their response. 00:13:27.403 --> 00:13:31.341 Look back at verse 31. 00:13:31.341 --> 00:13:33.744 Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves, judge him by your own law. 00:13:33.744 --> 00:13:40.116 The Jews said to him, it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death. 00:13:40.116 --> 00:13:44.053 So they acknowledge we don't have the ability to put him to death. 00:13:44.053 --> 00:14:02.806 Now, we talked about this at length in the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter two, where it says Jesus had broken down the barriers, the dividing wall in the temple the one time they had the ability at this time the Romans had allowed them to retain was if someone crossed into the inner temple courtyard, they could carry out capital punishment. 00:14:02.806 --> 00:14:07.977 And so maybe they're acknowledging that we don't it's not lawful for us. 00:14:07.977 --> 00:14:10.548 But here's an interesting thing on the background of this phrase. 00:14:10.548 --> 00:14:17.888 It is not lawful when you look up all the other times that used is used when it's used by Jewish leaders. 00:14:17.888 --> 00:14:20.957 They're not talking about Roman law. 00:14:20.957 --> 00:14:38.542 They're talking about their own religious law, about their own Jewish laws and rituals, which means, follow me here, keep with me, the point here with them is we recognize that we don't have a right to do this. 00:14:38.642 --> 00:14:44.214 Now, that's dangerous territory to be in because you may have been there at times. 00:14:44.214 --> 00:14:45.816 You may have seen people there. 00:14:45.816 --> 00:14:51.388 I want what I want I know it's wrong, but I want it at all costs. 00:14:51.388 --> 00:14:54.291 I will have this thing no matter what. 00:14:54.291 --> 00:15:03.267 Maybe you've seen that husband who has said I want this other relationship at all costs. I know it's wrong. 00:15:03.267 --> 00:15:05.668 I'm going to go toward it. 00:15:05.769 --> 00:15:07.171 Fact Julie relayed --my wife. 00:15:07.171 --> 00:15:09.539 Julie relayed a story with me this week. 00:15:09.539 --> 00:15:20.616 You've probably heard you're familiar with Henry the eighth, who had multiple wives, and he wanted to divorce his first wife, and the Catholic Church wouldn't let him. 00:15:20.616 --> 00:15:24.020 So he conveniently started another church. 00:15:24.020 --> 00:15:30.427 They'll let me if I start it and I'm the head, I'll go to any length it takes to get what I want. 00:15:30.427 --> 00:15:33.764 Side note-- one of his wives he decided to divorce. 00:15:33.764 --> 00:15:36.200 Here was his basis for divorcing. 00:15:36.200 --> 00:15:40.003 She was ugly. 00:15:40.003 --> 00:15:44.374 He saw a profile picture online. 00:15:44.441 --> 00:15:48.477 Well, it was a painting before he met her. 00:15:48.477 --> 00:15:52.115 And what he saw in person didn't match up with what he saw online. 00:15:52.115 --> 00:15:53.783 She's ugly. 00:15:53.783 --> 00:15:56.285 I want what I want. 00:15:56.285 --> 00:15:58.388 And I will have it no matter what. 00:15:58.388 --> 00:16:04.126 You've seen that. You've seen that maybe as a student, you've seen a friend at school that you know what they're doing is wrong. 00:16:04.126 --> 00:16:09.533 But they they keep doing it because because of the friends that attracts they're lonely, they're hurting. 00:16:09.633 --> 00:16:12.168 And so they keep going down that path. 00:16:12.168 --> 00:16:13.169 Or maybe it's been at work. 00:16:13.169 --> 00:16:22.178 You've seen a coworker who just continues to do that thing that they know is wrong and they know that, you know, is wrong, but they they like the money or they like the praise. 00:16:22.178 --> 00:16:27.484 I like the benefits that come from that. 00:16:27.551 --> 00:16:44.533 I want what I want, even when I know, as it says here, it's not lawful and we will have it even if we have to lean on people we despise, Pilate, to bring it about. 00:16:44.533 --> 00:16:52.208 Now, what happens in these moments when you see this happening, someone going towards what they know is wrong? 00:16:52.208 --> 00:16:55.445 I think we all rightly take a step back and go, Lord, where are you? 00:16:55.445 --> 00:17:00.683 What's happening? How did this happen? 00:17:00.783 --> 00:17:03.486 Well, we get a ray of light to that question here in verse 32. 00:17:03.486 --> 00:17:07.457 Look at what's happening in verse 32. 00:17:07.624 --> 00:17:09.392 It's not lawful for us to put anyone to death. 00:17:09.392 --> 00:17:10.259 Look at verse 32. 00:17:10.259 --> 00:17:17.733 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 00:17:17.733 --> 00:17:24.039 Now, that phrase this was to fulfill that often is describing a quote from the Old Testament. 00:17:24.039 --> 00:17:26.643 This was to fulfill scripture. 00:17:26.643 --> 00:17:29.945 But these words are quoting Jesus's own words. 00:17:29.945 --> 00:17:32.048 In fact, I'll throw the references on screen. 00:17:32.048 --> 00:17:33.250 I'm not going to turn to them. 00:17:33.250 --> 00:17:34.416 You can look them up later. 00:17:34.416 --> 00:17:36.586 We've already read them over the course of going through the study. 00:17:36.586 --> 00:17:38.153 Go ahead, throw those passages up in John, 00:17:38.153 --> 00:17:39.955 14 - 15. 00:17:39.955 --> 00:17:44.928 That's where Jesus talks about Moses in the wilderness as he lifted up the serpent. 00:17:44.928 --> 00:17:47.998 So I must be lifted up, Jesus said. 00:17:48.097 --> 00:17:55.070 And then in John 12, the son of man will also be lifted up. 00:17:55.238 --> 00:17:56.806 Jesus had predicted all along. 00:17:56.806 --> 00:17:58.208 Look, I'm going to die. 00:17:58.208 --> 00:18:06.215 I'm going to die in a very specific way, not by stoning, but by being hung on a cross. 00:18:06.215 --> 00:18:07.483 Now, here's why that's important. 00:18:07.483 --> 00:18:09.519 Here's the comforting part of that for us. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:12.855 Here's why that's powerful for us. 00:18:12.855 --> 00:18:18.361 It's really easy in the midst of this or in whatever the challenge you're facing personally to go, where are you, Lord? 00:18:18.361 --> 00:18:19.061 What's happening? 00:18:19.061 --> 00:18:20.797 Why is this whole thing spinning out of control? 00:18:20.797 --> 00:18:24.800 What is the truth in this moment? 00:18:24.800 --> 00:18:29.739 But Jesus says, No, no, no, no, this is crazy. But I'm still in control. 00:18:29.739 --> 00:18:31.007 I knew this would happen. 00:18:31.007 --> 00:18:32.409 I told you it would happen. 00:18:32.409 --> 00:18:34.810 I predicted it. I'm still here. 00:18:34.810 --> 00:18:36.578 You can still lean on me. 00:18:36.578 --> 00:18:37.747 You can still trust me. 00:18:37.747 --> 00:18:45.454 As confusing as it is, I'm still in control. 00:18:45.488 --> 00:18:47.624 So that's the first kingdom we encounter. 00:18:47.624 --> 00:18:50.559 The kingdom of the religious, self-righteous. 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:52.162 Kingdom of the religious self-righteous. 00:18:52.162 --> 00:18:53.730 What's the second kingdom? 00:18:53.730 --> 00:18:55.097 Look here in this next group of verses. 00:18:55.097 --> 00:18:57.666 Verse 33. 00:18:57.666 --> 00:19:04.941 So Pilate entered the headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews? 00:19:04.941 --> 00:19:09.546 Jesus answered, Do you say this of your own accord? 00:19:09.546 --> 00:19:12.749 Or did others say it to you about me? 00:19:12.749 --> 00:19:14.951 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? 00:19:14.951 --> 00:19:19.989 Your own nation, the chief priest delivered you over to me. What have you done? 00:19:19.989 --> 00:19:21.758 Jesus answered. 00:19:21.758 --> 00:19:23.192 My kingdom is not of this world. 00:19:23.192 --> 00:19:32.868 If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not of this world. 00:19:32.935 --> 00:19:37.507 Then Pilate said to him, So you are a king? 00:19:37.673 --> 00:19:38.708 Jesus answered. 00:19:38.708 --> 00:19:41.344 You say that I am a king. 00:19:41.344 --> 00:19:47.616 For this purpose I was born; for this purpose I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth. 00:19:47.616 --> 00:19:51.954 Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. 00:19:51.954 --> 00:19:57.426 And Pilate said to him, What is truth? 00:19:57.492 --> 00:20:00.163 What is truth? 00:20:00.163 --> 00:20:02.832 Pilate enters back in. 00:20:02.832 --> 00:20:04.267 He leaves the Jewish leaders behind. 00:20:04.267 --> 00:20:08.837 He goes back into his own courtyard where they didn't want to come, and he begins to interrogate Jesus. 00:20:08.837 --> 00:20:11.240 And here we're going to see the second Kingdom. 00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:13.108 The first was the religious self-righteous. 00:20:13.108 --> 00:20:22.417 The second one here is just the kingdom of the world, the realm of the world where power and control are at play at a high level. 00:20:22.484 --> 00:20:24.619 Pilate begins to interrogate Jesus. 00:20:24.619 --> 00:20:30.058 One thing that's interesting about this is the way that they ask questions back and forth. 00:20:30.058 --> 00:20:34.364 You'll see Pilate, most of his dialogue is just questions. 00:20:34.364 --> 00:20:35.397 Ask a question. 00:20:35.397 --> 00:20:39.201 I'm going to respond to a question with a question. 00:20:39.201 --> 00:20:40.603 It's an interesting tactic. 00:20:40.603 --> 00:20:42.038 You see many use this. 00:20:42.038 --> 00:20:51.012 In fact, the first question he asks is, are you king of the Jews? 00:20:51.012 --> 00:20:54.750 That's the first question he asks, are you king of the Jews? 00:20:54.750 --> 00:20:59.989 And that's an interesting question because Jesus, look at how Jesus responds to him. 00:20:59.989 --> 00:21:06.362 Did you say this of your own accord or did others say it to you about me? 00:21:06.362 --> 00:21:08.597 Now, a friend of mine wrote a book years ago. 00:21:08.597 --> 00:21:10.165 His name's Randy Newman, not the singer. 00:21:10.165 --> 00:21:14.703 If you know who that is, If you're that old Randy Newman, the singer, he's Randy Newman, the author. 00:21:14.703 --> 00:21:16.838 He wrote a book called Questioning Evangelism. 00:21:16.838 --> 00:21:20.409 He doesn't mean I'm questioning whether evangelism is the right thing to do or not. 00:21:20.409 --> 00:21:23.378 He means I'm using questions in evangelism. 00:21:23.378 --> 00:21:27.916 He grew up in a Jewish home, and he said all our interactions were this way. 00:21:28.017 --> 00:21:30.853 I'd call up my grandma, Grandma, how's the weather down there? 00:21:30.853 --> 00:21:35.691 How should the weather be in Florida in the middle of July? 00:21:35.691 --> 00:21:37.926 Uncle, Uncle Steve, how are you doing? 00:21:37.926 --> 00:21:39.729 Compared to who? 00:21:39.729 --> 00:21:42.365 But, you know, it was just always this. 00:21:42.365 --> 00:21:44.700 I ask a question, they ask a question in response. 00:21:44.700 --> 00:21:46.635 Can’t you just give me a straight answer? 00:21:46.635 --> 00:21:48.637 It was just kind of this cultural thing. 00:21:48.637 --> 00:21:58.881 And you see almost this maddening pattern here of asking a question and responding with the question. Kids don't do this with your parents, by the way. 00:21:58.881 --> 00:21:59.781 That's not how you do it. 00:21:59.781 --> 00:22:02.351 Give them a straight answer. 00:22:02.351 --> 00:22:05.554 Randy, though, this book's a great book, questioning evangelism. 00:22:05.554 --> 00:22:11.527 He gives a lot of great tactics for how to engage in evangelism using questions. 00:22:11.527 --> 00:22:16.798 And I would say make sure as you’re doing that that you're doing it sincerely. 00:22:16.898 --> 00:22:18.467 The questions you ask are sincere. 00:22:18.467 --> 00:22:22.704 Not I'm not just trying to corner you and say, I gotcha. 00:22:22.704 --> 00:22:33.848 Julie and I both were heavily influenced by writer Francis Schaeffer, and he talked about you want to press into people's lives in a way that helps the weight of their worldview, press down upon them. 00:22:33.915 --> 00:22:37.086 Tell me what you believe in a sincere way. 00:22:37.086 --> 00:22:38.453 What's that based on? 00:22:38.453 --> 00:22:40.522 How does that guide you in times of trouble? 00:22:40.522 --> 00:22:43.291 How do you make decisions when you encounter difficulties? 00:22:43.291 --> 00:22:56.939 Let the weight of that often broken, cobbled together system that won't bear up often under the hard times, questions can be a powerful way to do that. 00:22:56.939 --> 00:23:05.914 Here we see almost this master conversation of subtleness occurring back and forth between Jesus and Pilate. 00:23:05.914 --> 00:23:08.784 Question, answer, question, question, question. 00:23:08.784 --> 00:23:10.385 Look at how they begin to get engaged. 00:23:10.385 --> 00:23:21.029 Because Jesus asked this question looking back at verse 34, Did you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me? 00:23:21.029 --> 00:23:27.368 And I think by asking that question, he's asking a really important question that drives that whole point of this whole message. 00:23:27.368 --> 00:23:31.205 He's asking him two different things. 00:23:31.205 --> 00:23:38.212 The first question he's asking him is, do you really want to know if I'm king or not? 00:23:38.212 --> 00:23:41.349 Are you personally really interested in knowing who I am? 00:23:41.349 --> 00:23:44.886 Are you asking because you want to know me? 00:23:44.886 --> 00:23:45.988 The true king? 00:23:45.988 --> 00:23:50.491 Is that what you're asking? 00:23:50.558 --> 00:24:05.507 And I think it's important to remember that as hardened as you think someone may be, as far from Christ as they run, even if they are the ones in persecuting you, you never know how God might be stirring in their heart. 00:24:05.507 --> 00:24:08.943 You never know. 00:24:08.943 --> 00:24:12.247 Jesus is asking Pilate, I'm here. 00:24:12.247 --> 00:24:13.182 Don't you want to know me? 00:24:13.182 --> 00:24:15.983 I'm here. Come to me. 00:24:15.983 --> 00:24:19.688 Don't ever forget you never know how God is working in someone's heart in the background. 00:24:19.688 --> 00:24:21.923 That's the first half of that question. 00:24:21.923 --> 00:24:24.727 But the second half is a little sneakier. 00:24:24.727 --> 00:24:32.634 When he asks, Is this something you came up with on your own, or did someone else say this to you about me? 00:24:32.634 --> 00:24:39.040 In this moment, he's basically saying to Pilate, are you being manipulated by the Jews? 00:24:39.040 --> 00:24:42.678 Are you, are you listening to them and what they have to say about me? 00:24:42.678 --> 00:24:46.214 Are you letting them lead you along? 00:24:46.214 --> 00:24:54.323 Can you imagine a bigger slap in the face to a Roman ruler than being manipulated by some backwater province? 00:24:55.457 --> 00:24:58.026 religion that I don't care anything about. 00:24:58.026 --> 00:25:01.230 They're somehow manipulating me. 00:25:01.230 --> 00:25:05.067 Did you come up with this on your own? 00:25:05.067 --> 00:25:07.301 Because Pilate’s got to be someone who goes. 00:25:07.301 --> 00:25:10.005 Who cares about your little religious arguments? 00:25:10.005 --> 00:25:12.340 Who cares? 00:25:12.340 --> 00:25:16.678 I mean, if today, if suddenly in the pulpit, I began to take up swearing. 00:25:16.678 --> 00:25:24.019 All right, maybe I choose just some really nasty word that would even just cause a hardened criminal to shudder. 00:25:24.019 --> 00:25:25.886 Something like stupid. 00:25:25.886 --> 00:25:27.489 You know what I'm talking about? 00:25:27.489 --> 00:25:28.490 Those Christian cuss words. 00:25:28.490 --> 00:25:31.626 We could pick some others. 00:25:31.626 --> 00:25:32.426 I drop that up here. 00:25:32.426 --> 00:25:36.097 You don't immediately call 911. 00:25:36.097 --> 00:25:41.269 I mean, you call 911 and they hang up or they come arrest you for wasting their time. 00:25:41.269 --> 00:25:41.803 What are you doing? 00:25:41.803 --> 00:25:44.239 We're out here trying to catch radioactive rattlesnakes. 00:25:44.239 --> 00:25:49.845 We don't have time to mess with your pastor cussing. Who cares? 00:25:49.911 --> 00:25:50.679 Now you’ll care. 00:25:50.679 --> 00:25:52.314 And you should. 00:25:52.314 --> 00:25:53.615 But you'll go talk internally. 00:25:53.615 --> 00:25:54.682 You will talk to the elders. 00:25:54.682 --> 00:25:55.750 They'll reprimand me. 00:25:55.750 --> 00:25:57.152 We'll have this whole thing. 00:25:57.152 --> 00:25:58.854 We'll get it straightened out. 00:25:58.854 --> 00:26:00.489 But the government doesn't care. 00:26:00.489 --> 00:26:04.726 That's not who cares. Unless. 00:26:04.826 --> 00:26:16.404 Unless something starts to threaten their authority, their rule, and ultimately the word we've already seen their power. 00:26:16.404 --> 00:26:23.711 And of course, by the way, we all know everything we say here threatens the power of any other ruler than Christ. 00:26:23.711 --> 00:26:29.851 He is our allegiance and Pilate is included into that, yet he doesn't get that. 00:26:29.851 --> 00:26:31.920 He's wondering what's going on? 00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:34.689 I've got my kingdom, I've got my realm. 00:26:34.689 --> 00:26:36.991 This worldly realm. 00:26:36.991 --> 00:26:39.795 And you're asking me this weird question. 00:26:39.795 --> 00:26:41.395 Look back at how Pilate responds here. 00:26:41.395 --> 00:26:46.401 Verse 35, Pilate answered him, Am I a Jew? 00:26:46.401 --> 00:26:51.173 Meaning, How am I supposed to know about your silly inside arguments? 00:26:51.173 --> 00:26:53.775 How am I supposed to engage on those? 00:26:53.775 --> 00:26:54.608 Who cares? 00:26:54.608 --> 00:26:55.477 Am I a Jew? 00:26:55.477 --> 00:27:01.348 And then he asks, What accusation have they brought against you or What have you done? 00:27:01.348 --> 00:27:06.788 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. 00:27:06.788 --> 00:27:10.025 You think you know what it means to be a king. 00:27:10.025 --> 00:27:14.461 But I operate in a completely different realm. 00:27:14.461 --> 00:27:18.365 Now, we've already read this, so we know that this confuses Pilate more. 00:27:18.365 --> 00:27:20.201 Look at how Pilate answers. 00:27:20.201 --> 00:27:21.836 So you say you're a king. 00:27:21.836 --> 00:27:23.605 I thought I wasn't sure if you were not. 00:27:23.605 --> 00:27:27.608 Are you saying you are? What do you mean? 00:27:27.608 --> 00:27:29.877 And how Jesus responds shed a lot of light on this issue. 00:27:29.877 --> 00:27:31.179 Wait. Situation. 00:27:31.179 --> 00:27:35.817 You say that I am a king. 00:27:35.916 --> 00:27:41.288 You think you understand what it means to be a king. 00:27:41.355 --> 00:27:46.161 But I'm not a king like any other king you've ever seen. 00:27:46.161 --> 00:27:47.595 My kingdom is a different kingdom. 00:27:47.595 --> 00:27:49.497 And this leads us to the Third Kingdom. 00:27:49.497 --> 00:27:51.665 Look at how he responds. This purpose. 00:27:51.665 --> 00:27:53.101 I was born, for this purpose. 00:27:53.101 --> 00:27:58.940 I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth. 00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:03.644 Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. 00:28:03.644 --> 00:28:10.451 So the third kingdom we see here, the third realm in the battle for truth, is the Kingdom of truth. 00:28:10.451 --> 00:28:13.387 Christ's kingdom, the Kingdom of truth. 00:28:13.387 --> 00:28:15.190 You have the kingdom of the religious, self-righteous. 00:28:15.190 --> 00:28:16.223 We have the kingdom of the world. 00:28:16.223 --> 00:28:21.128 But ultimately we have the kingdom of truth. 00:28:21.128 --> 00:28:26.733 And then we get Pilate’s famous response in that moment. What is truth? 00:28:26.800 --> 00:28:29.237 What is truth? 00:28:29.237 --> 00:28:32.272 Now, why would Pilate say that? 00:28:32.272 --> 00:28:33.074 Why would he ask that? 00:28:33.074 --> 00:28:34.476 I've pointed to this passage. 00:28:34.476 --> 00:28:39.580 I know others have as well as an example of where moral relativism was showing up. 00:28:39.580 --> 00:28:40.882 I think that's one way to teach this. 00:28:40.882 --> 00:28:42.851 I don't think that's wrong. 00:28:42.851 --> 00:28:47.188 Surely moral relativism has occurred in every age where everybody determines their own truth. 00:28:47.188 --> 00:28:49.057 Whatever is true for you, that's great. 00:28:49.057 --> 00:28:52.026 Unless it imposes on my truth, then we have a problem. 00:28:52.026 --> 00:28:53.294 Now, who do we side with? 00:28:53.294 --> 00:28:54.162 What's right? 00:28:54.162 --> 00:28:57.298 How do we know who's true? What is truth? 00:28:57.298 --> 00:28:58.499 That's one way to take this. 00:28:58.499 --> 00:29:07.976 I think, though, in this passage, there's three ways to look at this phrase, What is truth, about what Pilate may be asking in the context of everything that's happening. 00:29:08.076 --> 00:29:19.287 So let's look at the first one when he asks, What is truth, I think the first thing he may be asking is just simply who is right in this situation? 00:29:19.287 --> 00:29:21.189 What's the truth here? 00:29:21.189 --> 00:29:23.523 Kind of like the opening story. 00:29:23.523 --> 00:29:24.759 What's really going on? 00:29:24.759 --> 00:29:27.694 Are the Jews telling the truth or are you telling the truth? 00:29:27.694 --> 00:29:30.798 I don't understand why did I get mixed up in this? 00:29:30.798 --> 00:29:35.068 I'd rather be back in my palace eating grapes. Who cares? Who's right? 00:29:35.068 --> 00:29:36.604 I don't know. 00:29:36.604 --> 00:29:40.208 Now, that's one way to take it. 00:29:40.208 --> 00:29:47.481 The second is when he asks what is truth, why does it matter? 00:29:47.481 --> 00:29:49.116 And here's why that's important. 00:29:49.116 --> 00:29:51.519 He may be simply asking, Why does it matter? 00:29:51.519 --> 00:29:55.390 Meaning, why does truth matter? 00:29:55.390 --> 00:30:05.066 And you've seen this at play, by the way, in power situations in politics where truth does not matter at all. 00:30:05.165 --> 00:30:08.769 The only way it matters is if it supports the power I want to keep. 00:30:08.769 --> 00:30:11.972 And pick either side or a third side or anyone. 00:30:11.972 --> 00:30:15.675 And yeah, there are moments, you know, I'm painting a broad picture here. 00:30:15.675 --> 00:30:22.083 There are certainly people who are truthful, but you understand the biggest goal is power? 00:30:22.083 --> 00:30:23.451 What is, what is truth? 00:30:23.451 --> 00:30:27.622 What does truth matter in this moment? 00:30:27.721 --> 00:30:32.058 But listen closely, this is where we are to be set apart. 00:30:32.058 --> 00:30:34.194 This is where Christians are to be set apart. 00:30:34.194 --> 00:30:39.901 We are to be known as people of truth, people who pursue truth to its fullest. 00:30:39.901 --> 00:30:41.801 We don't just believe something that's true. 00:30:41.801 --> 00:30:43.436 We practice it. We live it out. 00:30:43.436 --> 00:30:47.275 We fight for it in our own hearts as well. 00:30:47.275 --> 00:30:51.112 We don't dabble in lies, we fight for truth. 00:30:51.211 --> 00:30:58.118 I remember sitting down with these two ladies who were in the biggest conflict I've ever seen between two women before. 00:30:58.118 --> 00:30:59.553 I worked with them. 00:30:59.553 --> 00:31:03.356 Somehow it ended up on my plate to try to help them reconcile. 00:31:03.356 --> 00:31:04.525 It was messy. 00:31:04.525 --> 00:31:14.301 But let me tell you, when we sat down together, one thing I deeply appreciated is that neither one of them were spinning their own truth, but they were both careful to say, Yes, you're right. 00:31:14.301 --> 00:31:15.903 This is what happened. 00:31:15.903 --> 00:31:22.476 I'm not going to go off that and try to make her sound worse than she is or me sound better than I am just to get what I want. 00:31:22.476 --> 00:31:25.779 They kept fighting for truth. 00:31:25.779 --> 00:31:34.989 If we do that, and as they did, we can navigate whatever messy thing we encounter. 00:31:35.056 --> 00:31:43.530 We are called to be people of truth, even in the midst of utter craziness around truth. 00:31:43.596 --> 00:31:54.642 I think the third response here is just simply at the end of the day, Pilate could be asking what is the true source of life? 00:31:54.708 --> 00:31:57.478 Who is the true king? 00:31:57.478 --> 00:32:01.481 Where do I find truth? 00:32:01.648 --> 00:32:04.484 Jesus is the king. 00:32:04.484 --> 00:32:12.058 Jesus is the true king, and Jesus has already called him to choose a kingdom. 00:32:12.058 --> 00:32:15.229 Do you say this or did someone else? 00:32:15.229 --> 00:32:17.832 Do you know what it means to be a true king? 00:32:17.832 --> 00:32:22.502 Do you know truth? 00:32:22.569 --> 00:32:24.637 And that's a question we all have to wrestle with. 00:32:24.637 --> 00:32:25.306 It's a question 00:32:27.007 --> 00:32:28.776 Who is my king? 00:32:28.776 --> 00:32:32.313 Which kingdom do I serve? Who is my king? 00:32:32.378 --> 00:32:33.881 And there is no middle ground. 00:32:33.881 --> 00:32:36.616 There aren't three options. There's two. 00:32:36.616 --> 00:32:40.054 The first two, I've chosen not Christ. 00:32:40.054 --> 00:32:43.723 The Kingdom of Truth chooses Christ. 00:32:43.723 --> 00:32:48.362 What does it mean to know him as your king? 00:32:48.362 --> 00:32:50.830 There's a video that's gone around that sums this up powerfully. 00:32:50.830 --> 00:32:52.432 You may have seen it. 00:32:52.432 --> 00:32:55.501 I know it's been shown here before in the past. 00:32:55.501 --> 00:32:56.636 It's so powerful, though. 00:32:56.636 --> 00:33:04.111 I want to share it again of just one man talking over and over again about what it means to know my king. 00:33:04.111 --> 00:33:05.778 Let's watch the screen. 00:36:28.581 --> 00:36:31.117 I love where he says, I wish I could describe him. 00:36:31.117 --> 00:36:34.688 That's all he's been doing for 5 minutes. 00:36:34.688 --> 00:36:36.889 But that's my king. 00:36:36.889 --> 00:36:38.224 I wonder if you know him. 00:36:38.224 --> 00:36:39.858 Do you know him? 00:36:39.858 --> 00:36:44.463 If you don't know him, I'd love to talk with you about what it means to follow him. 00:36:44.463 --> 00:36:45.197 To know him. 00:36:45.197 --> 00:36:50.936 Let me tell you, all of life changes when you know Christ. 00:36:51.036 --> 00:36:53.106 Sometimes that means new challenges. 00:36:53.106 --> 00:36:55.507 But all of life changes. 00:36:55.507 --> 00:36:59.878 I’d love to talk with you, with him about him today. 00:36:59.878 --> 00:37:00.847 But let's pray. 00:37:00.847 --> 00:37:03.516 God, thank you for this morning. 00:37:03.516 --> 00:37:06.152 Thank you for your word that guides us. 00:37:06.152 --> 00:37:09.222 Thank you for the pictures of new life in you this morning. 00:37:09.222 --> 00:37:19.364 People who have said he is my king and Lord we pray if there are any here who don't know you, they would come to say, that's my king. 00:37:19.364 --> 00:37:20.934 They would come to know you fully. 00:37:20.934 --> 00:37:25.338 They would come to know you in your death and resurrection and new life. 00:37:25.338 --> 00:37:28.875 And they would come to find new life in you. 00:37:28.875 --> 00:37:38.251 God, We thank you for another morning together to worship. My prayer today, God, would we know your presence today all throughout the day. 00:37:38.251 --> 00:37:41.054 We know there's madness coming with the start of a new week. 00:37:41.054 --> 00:37:43.222 May we know your presence today? 00:37:43.222 --> 00:37:46.726 Just a glimmer of your presence today. 00:37:46.726 --> 00:37:48.862 Jesus, we love you. 00:37:48.862 --> 00:37:49.295 Amen.