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Jesus on Trial - The Gospels · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: Let us pray. And they were instant with loud voices,
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  Speaker 1: requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of
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  Speaker 1: them and of the chief priests prevailed. Luke 23.23 With
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  Speaker 1: every breath I take today, I am in awe at
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  Speaker 1: the abuse you suffered on my behalf, Jesus. When I
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  Speaker 1: was knee-deep in my sin and far from you, You
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  Speaker 1: saw my face, and you knew my name. As the
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  Speaker 1: nine tails whip rip through your flesh, I am forever
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  Speaker 1: grateful that with each stripe placed on your body, it
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  Speaker 1: represented the sin that you would free me from. I
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  Speaker 1: praise you, because it was through your pain and betrayal
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  Speaker 1: that I now live a life free from the chains
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  Speaker 1: and bondage of Satan. when life begins to deal me
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  Speaker 1: hard blows, let me look to you, Jesus, as the
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  Speaker 1: encouragement to my faith. Let me look to you, Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: to remind me that my pain and troubles are only
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  Speaker 1: momentary and that they will pale in comparison to the
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  Speaker 1: glory that awaits me. Thank you for standing trial so
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  Speaker 1: that I can stand in my new life free from
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  Speaker 1: Satan and free from the sting of death. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus on trial.
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  Speaker 2: In our last story, Jesus was taken to the chief
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  Speaker 2: priests to be questioned. Jesus was beaten, spat upon, yelled at,
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  Speaker 2: and denied by his closest follower, Peter. Handed over to Pilate,
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  Speaker 2: Jesus now stands on trial to be killed. Pilate is
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  Speaker 2: to decide whether Jesus of Nazareth should be put to death,
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  Speaker 2: as inspired by the Gospels.
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  Speaker 3: This is Jack Graham with today's episode of The Bible
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  Speaker 3: in a Year. In our last time together, we heard
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  Speaker 3: how Jesus was beaten, cursed, and mocked before he appeared
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  Speaker 3: before the Jewish Sanhedrin. He was asked if he claimed
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  Speaker 3: to be the Christ, the Messiah, and though he knew
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  Speaker 3: his words would cost him, he did not walk away
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  Speaker 3: from the truth. Jesus is, in fact, and claimed to be,
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  Speaker 3: the Savior, the Son of God, the world's Messiah, the
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  Speaker 3: Jewish Messiah and the Savior of the world. This was
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  Speaker 3: the very thing that the Jewish leaders needed to hand
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  Speaker 3: him over to the Romans for execution. This in their
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  Speaker 3: minds was blasphemy, that he claimed to be God. We
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  Speaker 3: also learned that Peter denied the Lord three times, just
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  Speaker 3: as Jesus had predicted. And we learned how Judas, filled
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  Speaker 3: with shame and sin, made a tragic decision to end
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  Speaker 3: his own life and to end up in hell as
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  Speaker 3: the son of perdition. Today we'll hear about the trial
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  Speaker 3: of Jesus before Pilate. The Roman ruler seems reluctant to
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  Speaker 3: put Jesus to death. But the religious leaders and the
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  Speaker 3: crowds cry out for his death while demanding a murderer
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  Speaker 3: to be released. And while Jesus is clearly innocent, there's
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  Speaker 3: now no stopping what is about to happen, that our
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  Speaker 3: Lord would be condemned to die on a cross, a brutal,
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  Speaker 3: vicious death, an excruciating death for the sins of the world.
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  Speaker 3: Let's listen now to the reading of the Word of God.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus was placed before Pontius Pilate with an angry mob
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  Speaker 2: behind him. The Jewish officials had riled up the crowds
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  Speaker 2: to accuse Jesus and demand his death. Jesus stood before Pilate,
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  Speaker 2: looking into the crowd. Some of the same crowd that
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  Speaker 2: had once shouted, Hosanna in the highest, to the son
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  Speaker 2: of David, was now calling for the ending of his life. Pilate,
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  Speaker 2: irked by the crowd, asked, What charges do you bring
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  Speaker 2: against this man? In visceral anger, they replied, he is
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  Speaker 2: a criminal worthy of death. He claims to be king
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  Speaker 2: of the Jews and the promised savior. Pilate took Jesus
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  Speaker 2: back into the palace away from the mob to question him. So,
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  Speaker 2: is it as they say, he said. Underneath Pilate's regal
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  Speaker 2: and mocking tone was genuine curiosity. Who truly is this man,
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  Speaker 2: he thought. Are you king of the Jews, he asked.
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  Speaker 2: Did you say this because you were curious or because
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  Speaker 2: somebody told you? Jesus replied. Am I a Jew? Pilate answered.
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  Speaker 2: You people have your own nation, priests, and way of
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  Speaker 2: doing things. Yet they brought you here to me to
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  Speaker 2: have you killed. What did you do to make them
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  Speaker 2: so angry? Jesus looked at Pilate the same way he
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  Speaker 2: looked at many people, with an intensity intermingled with great
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  Speaker 2: compassion and love. My kingdoms, is not of this world,
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  Speaker 2: he said. If my kingdom were of this world, my
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  Speaker 2: servants would be fighting in the streets on my behalf,
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  Speaker 2: rather than cry out for my death. But my kingdom
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  Speaker 2: is not of this world. So you are a king,
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  Speaker 2: Pilate asked again, this time with more genuine intrigue in
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  Speaker 2: his voice. Jesus answered again, You say that I am
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  Speaker 2: a king. For this purpose I was born, to testify
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  Speaker 2: to the truth. Those who hear the truth hear me too. Pilate,
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  Speaker 2: confused yet deeply engaged, asked Jesus another question. What is truth?
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  Speaker 2: Yet this was a question he was actually asking himself.
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  Speaker 2: After this, he went back out to the crowd of
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  Speaker 2: Jews and said to them, I find no charges against
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  Speaker 2: this man. Not satisfied until they saw the streets painted
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  Speaker 2: red with Jesus' blood, the crowd continued in their uproar.
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  Speaker 2: Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, the governor over the land,
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  Speaker 2: to help judge him. Herod, entertained by the idea of Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: asked him to do tricks for him. Herod demanded signs
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  Speaker 2: as proof of Jesus' deity. Jesus remained silent, in solidarity
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  Speaker 2: towards what was about to take place. Herod and his
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  Speaker 2: soldiers mocked Jesus, dressing him up like a king. Pilate
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  Speaker 2: lobbied for Jesus' innocence, yet the outcry for his murder
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  Speaker 2: was too great to simply ignore. Pilate then brought forth
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  Speaker 2: a choice before the people. During the Passover festival, the
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  Speaker 2: governor was supposed to release a prisoner that was chosen
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  Speaker 2: by the people. He figured this was the best chance
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  Speaker 2: to release Jesus. He took Jesus, who was bruised from
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  Speaker 2: Herod's teasings, and brought him in front of the people.
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  Speaker 2: He also brought forth a man named Barabbas, a convicted
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  Speaker 2: terrorist and murderer. Pilate then gave the crowd a choice,
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  Speaker 2: save the life of Jesus or Barabbas. Swiftly, as if
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  Speaker 2: the kindness and miracles of Jesus were wiped from their memory,
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  Speaker 2: they chose Barabbas. He was the first person Jesus took
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  Speaker 2: the place of. Barabbas was released and a call for
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  Speaker 2: death wailed from the audience. Pilate, knowing he could not
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  Speaker 2: convince the crowd of Jesus' innocence, poured water and washed
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  Speaker 2: his hands clean, refusing to be responsible for Jesus' death.
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  Speaker 2: The crowd, possessed by a similar hatred that once gripped
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  Speaker 2: the heart of Cain in ancient times, sought to spill
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  Speaker 2: the blood of the righteous. Jesus was taken into the
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  Speaker 2: courtyard to be beaten. Stripped and tied to a pillar
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  Speaker 2: stained from the dried blood of past criminals, Jesus knelt
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  Speaker 2: before the crowd A man slowly approached the naked and
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  Speaker 2: vulnerable Jesus with a cord of nine tails in his
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  Speaker 2: right hand, a whip with nine leather cords, attached with
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  Speaker 2: shards of glass and bone. The first blow was a
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  Speaker 2: direct hit, sending pain up Jesus' spine and to his head.
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  Speaker 2: The second ripping his flesh open and exposed. The third
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  Speaker 2: tearing the muscle beneath. The fourth going down all the
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  Speaker 2: way to bone. Jesus' blood was sprayed against the courtyard walls.
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  Speaker 2: Drenched in his own blood, Jesus knelt silently. The ancient
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  Speaker 2: words of Isaiah echoed in his mind with a silent
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  Speaker 2: reminder of what he was here to do. He was
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  Speaker 2: oppressed and beaten, yet he did not open his mouth.
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  Speaker 2: He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and
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  Speaker 2: as a sheep before its shearers, he was silent and
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  Speaker 2: did not open his mouth. After the whipping, Jesus was
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  Speaker 2: taken back with the soldiers, where they dressed him in
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  Speaker 2: a royal robe and adorned him with a crown of thorns.
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  Speaker 2: They teased him, taking a reed and hammering the thorns
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  Speaker 2: into his temple. They bowed to him in mockery and
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  Speaker 2: spat in his face, yet Jesus remained silent. The one
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  Speaker 2: who spoke the cosmos into existence and breathed life into
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  Speaker 2: mankind remained silent. Then Pilate took Jesus back before the crowds.'
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  Speaker 2: Have you had enough?' he yelled.' I find no more
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  Speaker 2: guilt in him. Behold this man!' When the crowd saw
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  Speaker 2: him again, they began yelling back, Crucify him! Crucify him!
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  Speaker 2: Crucify him! Pilate, beginning to grow sick of this, yelled back,
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  Speaker 2: Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no guilt
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  Speaker 2: in him. The Jews answered back to him and said,
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  Speaker 2: Pilate took Jesus again away from the crowds. Desperately, Pilate asked,
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  Speaker 2: Jesus was silent. Jesus, peering through the crowd of thorns,
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  Speaker 2: still placed on his head and said, You have no
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  Speaker 2: authority over me. Whoever delivers me to you is in
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  Speaker 2: greater sin. Pilate could hear the yells of the crowd outside.
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  Speaker 2: If you release him, you are no friend of Caesar's.
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  Speaker 2: Afraid of these words and that rumors of disloyalty to
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  Speaker 2: Caesar would spread, Pilate took Jesus before the people again. Then,
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  Speaker 2: after his torn flesh had begun healing and attaching to
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  Speaker 2: the fabric, they tore off the robe and sent him
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  Speaker 2: back to the crowds.
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  Speaker 1: To be crucified.
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  Speaker 3: As we begin today's scripture, Pilate is asking the crowds
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  Speaker 3: why they brought Jesus before him. He had to have
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  Speaker 3: a good reason to send the Lord to his death.
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  Speaker 3: The angry crowd yelled that Jesus claimed to be a
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  Speaker 3: king and savior of the Jews. But they also made
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  Speaker 3: false accusations, saying Jesus told them not to pay tribute
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  Speaker 3: to Caesar. Just as Satan the deceiver always does in
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  Speaker 3: twisting the truth, the crowds are now twisting the truth
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  Speaker 3: and misrepresenting what the Lord had said. A claim to
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  Speaker 3: be king over Caesar would have been a threat against
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  Speaker 3: the Roman Empire, punishable by death. Pilate was not convinced
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  Speaker 3: that Jesus was worthy of being put to death, so
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  Speaker 3: he asked Jesus if he was really the king. Jesus
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  Speaker 3: asked Pilate if this was his own ideas or if
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  Speaker 3: others had put him up to it. Pilate pressed further
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  Speaker 3: because he wasn't a Jew and he didn't know what
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  Speaker 3: Jesus could possibly have done to anger these people. And
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  Speaker 3: patient and as loving as ever, Jesus replied by explaining
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  Speaker 3: the nature of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of
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  Speaker 3: Jesus was not a kingdom that would overthrow the earthly
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  Speaker 3: rule of Rome. It was a different kind of kingdom,
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  Speaker 3: not of this world. It was the kingdom of eternal life,
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  Speaker 3: the kingdom of God. He was telling Pilate that his
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  Speaker 3: authority did not come from the world and the governments
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  Speaker 3: of this world, but in the authority of God himself.
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  Speaker 3: His truthfulness and gentleness and boldness certainly intrigued, even confused, Pilate.
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  Speaker 3: Jesus continued and said it was for this reason that
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  Speaker 3: he came to the world. His purpose was to testify
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  Speaker 3: to the truth. Pilate responds with a question that many
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  Speaker 3: are still asking today. What is truth? We do not
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  Speaker 3: know if Pilate was genuine in his search for truth
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  Speaker 3: or if he also, like the crowd, was simply mocking Jesus.
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  Speaker 3: But we do know that he saw no fault in
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  Speaker 3: Christ and told the crowds there was nothing for which
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  Speaker 3: he could charge or crucify this man. This is an
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  Speaker 3: important point to remember. Jesus had done nothing wrong. He
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  Speaker 3: was sinless. He had never broken God's law or man's law.
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  Speaker 3: He was completely innocent as he stood before the crowds.
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  Speaker 3: And yet his innocence was of no consequence to the
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  Speaker 3: people who would not relent until he was dead. So Pilate,
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  Speaker 3: hoping to get out of the situation, sent him to Herod,
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  Speaker 3: the Jewish governor of Galilee. Herod showed no interest in
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  Speaker 3: discerning the truth. He just wanted to see Jesus perform
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  Speaker 3: signs and wonders that he'd been told about. Jesus would
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  Speaker 3: not perform for him, of course. So Herod mocked Jesus
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  Speaker 3: and then had him dressed up like a king and
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  Speaker 3: sent him back to Pilate. Pilate still did not see
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  Speaker 3: a reason to sentence Jesus to death and hoped to
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  Speaker 3: release him by offering a pardon as was customary to
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  Speaker 3: the Roman governor to do during the Passover. So he
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  Speaker 3: brought two men before the crowds. One was Jesus, the
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  Speaker 3: innocent man with no faults. The other was a man
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  Speaker 3: named Barabbas, a criminal, an insurrectionist, and a murderer. He
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  Speaker 3: gave the crowds the choice to release one of the men.
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  Speaker 3: Do you choose Jesus or do you choose Barabbas? Pilate said.
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  Speaker 3: and the crowd made their choice. Give us Barabbas. In
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  Speaker 3: some ways, Barabbas, the insurrectionists who fought against Rome, represent
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  Speaker 3: what they really wanted Jesus to be, one who would
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  Speaker 3: set them free from oppression. What they didn't understand is
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  Speaker 3: that the death to which Jesus would die, the true Messiah,
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  Speaker 3: would free them from a much greater grip, the grip
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  Speaker 3: of sin and death. We then heard how our Lord
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  Speaker 3: endured beatings and lashings and his body is torn apart
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  Speaker 3: violently and viciously, without mercy. The physical pain, of course,
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  Speaker 3: is excruciating. Yet Jesus endures it silently, fulfilling the prophecy
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  Speaker 3: of Isaiah that said the Messiah would stand like a
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  Speaker 3: lamb led to the slaughter, not opening his mouth. Pilate
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  Speaker 3: tries one more time to spare the life of Jesus.
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  Speaker 3: He says in Luke 23, verses 22 and 23, A
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  Speaker 3: third time he said to them, Why? What evil has
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  Speaker 3: he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death.
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  Speaker 3: I will therefore punish and then release him. But they
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  Speaker 3: were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified.
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  Speaker 3: And their voices prevailed. Finally, Pilate gave in to the
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  Speaker 3: will of the people and sentenced Jesus to death, although
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  Speaker 3: he knew that the one who stood before him was innocent.
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  Speaker 3: Jesus endured all of this, including the cross, because of
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  Speaker 3: God's unending and measurable love for us. This was the
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  Speaker 3: cup of suffering and pain that he cried out and
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  Speaker 3: asked the Father to take from him. And yet he
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  Speaker 3: submitted himself to the will of God, the perfect will,
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  Speaker 3: and the Lamb of God is slain. The Savior of
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  Speaker 3: the world is given as sacrifice so that we can
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  Speaker 3: have a relationship with God. You can have this relationship
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  Speaker 3: with God through Jesus Christ, by believing in him, that
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  Speaker 3: he died for you and rose again so that you
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  Speaker 3: could have eternal life. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank
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  Speaker 3: you for your love for us. Thank you for Jesus,
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  Speaker 3: who gave your life on the cross, Lord, for us,
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  Speaker 3: that we might be saved and given eternal life. Thank
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  Speaker 3: you for what you did for us in dying that
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  Speaker 3: we might live. And we pray this in your saving name.
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  Speaker 2: Amen.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast.
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  Speaker 3: I'm Jack Graham of Dallas, Texas. You can download the
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  Speaker 3: Pray.com app and make prayer and Bible study the priority
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  Speaker 3: of your life. And if you enjoyed this podcast, tell
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  Speaker 3: someone about it. Pass it on. Let others know because
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  Speaker 3: it is our desire to get God's Word to as
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  Speaker 3: many people as possible as fast as possible. And if
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  Speaker 3: you want to know more about what it means to
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  Speaker 3: be a Christ follower, what it means to be a
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  Speaker 3: disciple of Jesus, then go to jackgraham.org, jackgraham.org. And we
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  Speaker 3: have many resources that are available for you there. God
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  Speaker 3: bless you.