Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / Men of the New Testament: "Pilate" by Jonathan Garret - Part 6

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Men of the New Testament: "Pilate" by Jonathan Garret - Part 6 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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  Not sure.
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  There it is. Good evening.
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  If you're visiting with us, welcome. If you're normally here,
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  thanks for coming back. Just a brief catch-up
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  as to this class and series that's going on.
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  This is the New Testament Characters summer quarter.
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  We're talking about men who loved and served, preached God,
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  as well as some who fought and opposed him.
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  Up until this point, we've talked about John the
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  Baptist, Apollos, Barnabas, Aquila,
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  and Timothy. And I think we can all say that
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  Those men loved and preached God's Word.
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  And tonight we're going to talk about Pontius Pilate.
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  What type of man was Pilate? Was he
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  a follower or an opposer?
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  So who was Pilate?
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  Roman governor.
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  So I kind of cheated a little bit. I thought about putting
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  out a questionnaire randomly and
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  just seeing what people's answers would be, but instead I used AI to generate
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  answers. It come back and I think it's pretty
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  close to what probably would have come back if I'd put out questionnaires.
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  So the first one came back, the Roman governor who sentenced
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  Jesus to be crucified.
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  The man who washed his hands of Jesus.
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  The man who asked, what is truth?
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  The Roman official who couldn't find Jesus guilty but gave
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  in to the crowd. A villain in the crucifixion.
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  A weak politician.
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  I know the name, but I don't remember who he was.
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  Wasn't he the one who condemned Jesus?
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  And I'm not sure.
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  So tonight we're going to look at Pilate according to the Bible.
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  So the Bible shows that he was a Roman governor who—
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  with authority over Judea,
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  a judge who repeatedly declared Jesus innocent,
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  A man caught between justice and political pressure,
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  someone who spoke directly with Jesus about his kingship and truth,
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  and the official who ultimately ordered the crucifixion despite believing
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  Jesus had committed no capital offense.
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  So Pilate's found in the Bible in Matthew,
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  Mark, Luke, and John, and all of those are the accounts of the
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  trial of Jesus, and then in Acts and Timothy.
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  And tonight I'm going to read Matthew's account and
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  then look at some of the passages that aren't found in the other accounts,
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  and then we're going to look at those other accounts
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  shortly to see the differences
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  between them.
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  So Matthew 27:1-2,
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  when morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted
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  against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him,
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  they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
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  Matthew 27:11-14,
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  now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him,
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  saying, are you the King of the Jews? Jesus said
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  to him, it is as you say. And while he was being accused
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  by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
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  Then Pilate said to him, do you not hear how
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  many things they testify against you? But he answered him not
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  one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.
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  Matthew 27:15-26,
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  now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one
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  prisoner whom they wished. And at that time they had
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  a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.
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  Therefore, when they had gathered together,
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  Pilate said to them, Whom do you want me to release to you,
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  Barnabas or Jesus who is called Christ? For he knew
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  they had handed him over because of envy.
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  While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent
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  to him, saying, Have nothing to do with that
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  just man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him.
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  But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes that they should
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  ask for Barnabas,
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  and destroy Jesus. The governor answered
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  and said to them, Which of the 2 do
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  you want me to release to you? They said,
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  Barabbas. Pilate said to them,
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  What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?
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  They all said to him, Let him be crucified.
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  Then the governor said, Why, what evil has he done?
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  But they cried out all the more, saying, Let him be crucified!
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  When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a
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  tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before
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  the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just
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  person: you see to it. And all the people answered
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  and said, His blood be on us and our children!
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  Then he released Barabbas
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  to them. And when he had scourged
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  Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
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  Matthew 27:27-31,
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  Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium
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  and gathered the whole garrison around him. And they stripped him,
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  and put a scarlet robe on him. When they had twisted the crown
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  of thorns, they put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand:
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  and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying,
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  Hail, King of the Jews! Then they spat on him,
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  and took the reed, and struck him on the head.
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  And when they had mocked him, they took the robe off him, and put his
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  own clothes on him, and led him away to be crucified.
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  Matthew 27:57-65,
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  now when the evening had come, there came a rich man from
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  Arimathea named Joseph, who himself had become a
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  disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and
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  asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to
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  be given to him. When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped
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  it in clean linen cloth, and laid it in a new tomb which he had
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  hewn out of a rock. And he rolled a large stone against
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  the door of the tomb and departed. And Mary Magdalene was
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  there, and the other Mary sitting opposite the tomb.
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  On the next day, which followed the day of preparation,
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  the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate,
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  saying, Sir, we remember what he— while he was still
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  alive, How that deceiver said, after 3 days I will rise.
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  Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the 3rd day,
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  lest his disciples come by night and steal him away and
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  say to the people, he is risen from the dead, so that the last deception
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  will be worse than the first. Pilate said to them,
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  you have a guard. Go your way and make it secure as
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  you know how. So that's
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  Matthew's account of the trial of Jesus.
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  So we see in this first account,
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  I want to go back to Matthew 27:18
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  just for a second.
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  So when he's dealing with the Pharisees
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  and the multitude, Pilate asked,
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  or Pilate knew that he
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  had handed— they had handed Jesus over because of envy.
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  So he knew that Jesus was innocent,
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  but he didn't do anything. And then
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  the next verse, verse 18,
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  says, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him,
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  saying, have nothing to do with this just man. For I
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  have suffered many things today in a dream because of him.
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  So even his wife tried to warn him that
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  Jesus was innocent, and he still
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  did nothing.
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  Then I'll drop down to verse 24,
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  Matthew chapter 27.
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  And when Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather a
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  tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the
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  multitude, saying, I am innocent of his blood,
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  of this just person; you see to it.
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  So, at this point Pilate is trying to
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  play it off like he didn't do anything.
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  He is basically saying that the people crucified
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  him and it was their choice, not his.
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  And then the next verse, the multitude answered and said,
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  his blood be on us and our children.
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  So they're saying that they were going to take the responsibility
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  of Jesus' crucifixion. And there's a little
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  bit of irony in that statement because the blood
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  of Jesus is what saves us. It's what washes away our sins.
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  So now I'm going to jump over to Mark.
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  Mark 15,
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  starting at verse 6.
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  Now at the feast he was accustomed to release one prisoner to them.
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  Whomever they requested. And there was one named Barabbas,
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  who was chained with his fellow rebels, and they had committed murder in their
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  rebellion. Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask
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  him to do just as he had always done for them. But Pilate answered,
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  saying, Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?
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  For he knew the chief priests had handed him over because of envy.
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  But the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that he should
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  rather release Barabbas to them.
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  Pilate answered and said to them again, What then do you want me to do
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  with him who you call King of the Jews?
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  So they cried out again, Crucify him!
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  And Pilate said to them, Why, what evil has he done?
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  But they cried out all the more, Crucify him! So Pilate,
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  wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas
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  to them, and he delivered Jesus after he was scourged— after
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  he had scourged him— to be crucified.
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  So again, we see that Pilate didn't seem
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  to want to do what the crowd wanted, but he ultimately folded
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  and allowed them to make that decision and force
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  him or allowed them to make his decision to crucify Jesus.
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  So now I want to jump over to Luke 23,
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  starting at verse 6.
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  When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the man was a Galilean.
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  And as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent
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  him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at the time. Now when Herod
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  saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had desired for a
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  long time to see him, because he had heard many things about him,
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  and he hoped to see some miracles done by him. Then he questioned
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  him with many words, but he answered him nothing. And the chief
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  priests and scribes stood violently
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  accusing him. Then Herod and his men of war treated
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  him with contempt and mocked him, arrayed him in gorgeous robe,
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  and sent him back to Pilate. That very day Pilate and
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  Herod became friends with each other, with each other, for previously
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  they had been in opposition with each other. So,
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  In a sense, Pilate tried to pass the buck.
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  He thought that he would let Herod deal with it and
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  then that would get him out of it. But Herod
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  found no fault in him and sent him back to Pilate to
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  let Pilate deal with it again.
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  So then in the following verse 13,
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  Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and rulers and
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  the people, said to them, You have brought
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  this man to me as one who misleads the people. And indeed,
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  having examined him in your presence, I have found no
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  fault in this man concerning these things which you accuse him.
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  No, neither did Herod, for I sent him back to him. And indeed,
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  nothing deserving of death has been done by him. I will
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  therefore chastise him and release him.
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  So again, Pilate states that
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  he has found no fault in Jesus.
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  And it sounds like he wanted to release him, but he just
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  couldn't get the will of the people, and he wanted to please them
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  more than he knew what was right.
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  Now I want to jump over to John. I'll start at
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  chapter 18, verse 28.
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  Then they led Jesus to the Praetorium,
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  and it was early morning, but they themselves did not go into the Praetorium,
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  lest they should be defiled. But that he might eat
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  the Passover. Pilate then went out to them and said,
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  What accusations do you bring against this man?
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  They answered and said to him, If he were not
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  an evildoer, we would not have delivered him to you.
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  Then Pilate said to them, You take him and judge him according to your
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  law. Therefore the Jews said to him, It is not lawful for
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  us to put anyone to death, that the sayings— saying
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  of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spoke,
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  signifying by what death he would die.
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  Then Pilate entered the praetorium again,
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  called Jesus, and said to him, Are you the King of the Jews?
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  Jesus answered him, Are you speaking for yourself about
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  this, or did others tell you this concerning me?
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  Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and
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  chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done?
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  Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world.
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  If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that
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  I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom— now
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  my kingdom is not from here. Pilate therefore
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  said to him, Are you the king then?
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  Jesus answered, You say rightly, rightly that
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  I am king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I
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  have come into this world, that I should bear witness to the truth.
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  Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.
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  Pilate said to him, What is truth?
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  And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said
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  to them, I find no fault in him at all.
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  But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover.
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  Do you therefore want me to release you the King of the Jews?
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  And then they all cried out again, saying, not this man, but Barabbas!
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  Now Barabbas was a robber.
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  So in this illustration and
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  account that John has written, We see Pilate
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  going in and out of the Praetorium,
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  talking with the people, and then going back and talking to Jesus.
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  And it's almost like he's trying to convince himself
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  that Jesus didn't do anything wrong, and he knew he hadn't done anything wrong.
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  But again, the people continued to pressure him,
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  and he was was weak and went
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  with what the people said.
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  So I'm going to jump over to John 19:8.
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  Therefore, when Pilate had heard— let
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  me back up for a second. I'm going to start at
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  verse 7. The Jews answered him,
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  We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die, because he
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  has made himself the Son of God. Therefore when
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  Pilate heard that saying, he was more afraid. And he went again
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  into the praetorium, and said to Jesus, Where are
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  you from? But Jesus gave him no answer.
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  Then Pilate said to him, Are you not speaking to me?
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  Do you not know that I have power to crucify you, and the power to
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  release you? Jesus answered,
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  You could have no power at all against me unless it had been given to
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  you from above. Therefore the one who delivered me to you has the
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  greater sin. From then on Pilate sought to release him,
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  but the Jews cried out, saying, If you let this man go,
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  you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a
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  king speaks against Caesar. When Pilate therefore
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  heard this saying, he brought Jesus out, and sat down in the judgment seat
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  in a place that is called the Pavement, but in Hebrew,
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  Gabbatha. Now it was the preparation day of
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  the Passover, and about the 6th hour: and he said to the Jews,
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  Behold your King. But they cried out,
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  Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said
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  to them, Shall I Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests
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  answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then they delivered
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  him— then he delivered him to
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  them to be crucified. They took Jesus and led him away.
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  So again, we see Pilate, he knows
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  the truth, and he continues to go back
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  to what the people's will is. And we also see that
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  the chief priests and their willingness to
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  reject Jesus and how far they would go.
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  So now I want to go over to 1 Timothy 6:13-16,
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  and this is Paul's letter.
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  I urge you in the sight of God, who gives life to all things,
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  and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed the good confession
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  before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without
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  spot, blameless, until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing,
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  which he will manifest in his own time. He who
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  is the blessed and only King of kings and Lord of
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  lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable
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  light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom
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  be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
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  So Paul's reminding Timothy that Jesus made
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  the good confession before Pontius Pilate, and he urges Timothy
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  to remain faithful. Until Christ returns.
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  So when Jesus appeared before Pilate,
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  he never denied his identity.
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  So as Christians, this is our example.
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  Do we live our lives and
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  never deny who Jesus is?
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  He remained calm. I don't know about
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  y'all, but if I was put in a situation like that, I don't think I
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  would have been calm at all.
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  He spoke truth. He entrusted himself
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  to his Father.
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  And then Paul points to Timothy, or points Timothy
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  and to us, that example because faithfulness
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  is often tested when obedience becomes costly.
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  And Jesus remained faithful under pressure.
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  Pilate didn't.
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  So how are we like Pilate?
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  We like to pass the bucket times.
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  Point to other people.
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  He knew, he knew he was speaking the truth, right? He knew he was
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  sinless, but he didn't have the courage
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  to stand up for him. Yeah, so that's— we know the truth, or all
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  the time we should know the truth as Christians. But sometimes we
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  don't have the courage to stand up for them. Yeah. He did have
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  written on the cross, Jesus of Nazareth,
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  King of the Jews, written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
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  So that's interesting. Yes.
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  Yeah. So Sometimes
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  we know the right thing but choose the easier path.
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  We fear people more than God. Do we worry
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  about what people think?
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  Or— I don't think it's as prevalent here, but if
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  you go overseas, people that speak the truth
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  about God and Jesus, some of them could be killed.
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  There's areas in the world where speaking the truth about
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  God has dire consequences.
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  Yes. Because God's not standing physically beside
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  them, they fear people.
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  Do we allow public opinion to shape our convictions?
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  Do we avoid responsibility for decisions that we know are wrong?
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  And do we sometimes recognize truth without submitting
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  to it?
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  So Pilate had the authority, the influence,
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  and the opportunity to let Jesus go.
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  And he made the decision to have
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  him crucified.
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  In Matthew's account, he washed
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  his hands to try to symbolize that it wasn't
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  his doings, but it was his doing.
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  He was the only one that could give that judgment.
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  Because he was the judge of the trial and
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  he made the decision to crucify Jesus.
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  So the washing of his hands didn't take
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  him out of that situation.
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  Pilate recognized his innocence.
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  In each of the accounts, you can see That
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  he continually talks with
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  Jesus and talks with the
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  Pharisees, and he's
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  trying to get a compromise out of the Pharisees,
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  but it was his choice.
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  He didn't need their approval to let him go.
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  He feared losing his position
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  possibly as a governor.
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  I don't think he wanted to
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah, he tried to— Pontiphaus,
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  Herod.
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  So does anybody
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  have any examples of today of how
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  we might know the right thing to
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  do but we choose an easier path? I think in
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  religious discussions, when some truth matter comes up
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  and we may hold a minority position, it's easy for
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  us to just allow that
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  position to stand. Somebody wants to know how to be
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  saved and they're given a general religious answer,
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  and we know that that's not enough,
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  that they need to do more than believe that he to be obedient and we
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  don't say anything. It's easy to get ourselves in that situation because to say something
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  that might offend the sensitivities of people around us,
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  we just feel like it's better to go along and get along than to
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  say something. It's easy to find ourselves in that. Yeah, it's easier
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  to go along with the flow than to push back.
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  While I was preparing this lesson, I was trying to think of some examples.
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  And I don't know why this example kept popping up in
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  my head, but so everybody
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  in here was around when the pandemic happened.
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  And there was authorities
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  that said that churches
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  couldn't meet.
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  And we still found ways to meet
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  and to praise and worship God. But you've
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  got to look at that, you know, that hasn't been that long
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  ago. If there comes a day whenever they
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  say you can't go to church anymore,
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  are you going to be like Jesus or like
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  Pilate? Are you gonna worship God as
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  he's commanded, or are you gonna fear
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  the people and follow what they say is right?
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  Now, the Lord tells us that we are to be
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  peaceful and live with government and to do what
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  they ask, but when it's outside of what God wills,
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  We're not to follow that.
• 30:49
  And I appreciate Tommy's lesson tonight.
• 30:55
  When you're faced with a situation where you
• 30:59
  know the truth— there was
• 31:03
  another instance that popped in my mind whenever I was going to this lesson.
• 31:09
  If you hold a position And this
• 31:13
  happened. I don't remember all the details,
• 31:17
  but if you're in a position and you're asked
• 31:20
  to give a marriage license and
• 31:25
  it's not what the Lord says marriage should
• 31:28
  be, do you issue that marriage
• 31:32
  license or do you stand up for your religious beliefs
• 31:37
  and for what God stands for and push
• 31:41
  back on that. And there may be consequences
• 31:45
  to that. But at the end of the day,
• 31:48
  the consequences that you may suffer on this earth is not going
• 31:53
  to be anything like you're going to suffer when Judgment
• 31:56
  Day comes.
• 32:02
  So I think it's safe to say based on what
• 32:06
  the Bible says about Pilate we can officially say that he was not a follower
• 32:10
  of Jesus.
• 32:14
  Anybody else got any comments?
• 32:18
  A couple observations. It's interesting as he went through all this,
• 32:22
  I think there were at least 6 trials, maybe 7 that Jesus
• 32:26
  went through, civil trials, government trials going back and forth
• 32:30
  between Pilate and the high priests and all that.
• 32:34
  So that's one thing. But another observation I saw in
• 32:39
  Matthew 27:25, and I need to do a little study on that. Pilate didn't
• 32:44
  want anything to do with him, that's obvious. Pilate's wife didn't want anything to do
• 32:47
  with him. But the people said his blood would be on their hands and
• 32:51
  their children. And I can't believe I believe that's a positive
• 32:55
  statement. If someone's blood is on my hands,
• 33:00
  that means I've done something, you know, in a very negative
• 33:04
  way. Yeah. Um, I need to study that a little bit. That just
• 33:08
  kind of popped in my mind. It's there. I've been there forever.
• 33:12
  Yeah. So they— the people
• 33:16
  that were there took it upon themselves and made that statement.
• 33:29
  Yeah, they wasn't legally processed.
• 33:41
  Yeah. Even though
• 33:45
  there was clearly a right and a wrong decision to be made,
• 33:51
  he still said— and I think this was also Matthew's account—
• 33:54
  he still said, trying to please everybody,
• 33:58
  he was like, should I punish him and then release him? He couldn't even
• 34:02
  stand on the— he's clearly an innocent man. The right thing to do
• 34:06
  would have just been to let him go. But he was willing to go as
• 34:09
  far as, I'll still punish him and then release him. He just didn't—
• 34:13
  he didn't have any conviction. Yeah, he offered to chastise him
• 34:17
  and release him. He was still going to do something to him, but it wasn't
• 34:21
  the crucifixion, to crucify him like the people wanted.
• 34:25
  But he was still trying to find a way to punish him to
• 34:29
  please the people. Jewish leaders stirred
• 34:33
  up the crowd. They knew what they wanted. They didn't have the power.
• 34:37
  Or the legal authority to punish
• 34:41
  somebody with death. So they had to have the Romans,
• 34:44
  and they knew that. They had 2 sham trials at night, which wasn't
• 34:49
  supposed to be.
• 34:52
  And I don't know, in one way Pilate was in between a
• 34:56
  rock and a hard spot. He'd already had conflicts with
• 35:00
  the Jews, and he didn't need any more, or he going to lose his job.
• 35:05
  And he found himself in a place
• 35:09
  where to do the right thing was going to hurt him personally.
• 35:13
  Did we ever find that? Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
• 35:18
  In a lot of ways, sometimes we are Pilate. Yeah.
• 35:22
  Yeah, I found it interesting while preparing this lesson and
• 35:27
  studying Pilate because I'd never really looked into Pilate, but there's
• 35:31
  a lot of lessons there that we can look at today because,
• 35:35
  you know, when somebody pushes us,
• 35:39
  especially if it's family or friends, a lot of times we cave,
• 35:43
  we give in.
• 35:47
  Like Tommy said, you know, there's good people out there and
• 35:51
  they do some good things, but those good things
• 35:55
  don't save them.
• 35:59
  They've got to follow God's will.
• 36:02
  We've got to follow God's will.
• 36:22
  Peter's going to say on Pentecost, the second place,
• 36:26
  that with wicked hands they took and crucified him. Acts 3:13,
• 36:30
  one of your passages you had. This was the eternal purpose of
• 36:34
  God. Pilate played a role in accomplishing God's
• 36:39
  will for our salvation, but he, he wasn't aware
• 36:43
  that he was doing that, nor was he intending to do that. Yeah, how tragic
• 36:46
  to have such two great things that he did, and it'd do him spiritually,
• 36:50
  eternally no good whatsoever. Yeah, and when he asked Jesus the question,
• 36:54
  what is truth? He didn't wait for an answer, or at least the
• 36:58
  Bible doesn't tell us that. He turned and went back out. Now,
• 37:02
  had he stayed in there and listened and waited for the answer,
• 37:06
  maybe he would have made a different decision. But he had many
• 37:11
  opportunities, and I thought it
• 37:15
  was interesting that, you know, his wife even tried to convince him.
• 37:19
  I don't know a whole lot about that time period, but I don't think women
• 37:23
  were very outspoken at that time.
• 37:27
  And she felt the need to get him a message
• 37:31
  while he was on this, and he just ignored it.
• 37:36
  Although he— I think in the back of his mind he
• 37:40
  was considering everything that he knew He just
• 37:43
  ultimately failed.
• 37:51
  He did.
• 37:54
  He kept finding reasons.
• 38:11
  Well, thank y'all for a good class. You're dismissed.