By Following the True King

With the start of John 18, we’ve moved into the final scenes of Jesus’ life. These are some of the most climactic, sad, joyous and important parts of the story of Jesus’ life. Everything that we’ve studied up to this point in the Gospel of John has given us ample evidence to believe that Jesus really is who he says he is. He is the Son of God and in believing in Him we can have life in His Name.

Everything in our study has also prepared us for the outrageously unjust treatment of Jesus as he is betrayed, rejected, forsaken and executed as a criminal.

Every single gospel account portrays Jesus as the sinless Son of God who did nothing deserving of death, let alone death on cross at the hands of the Romans. But the apostle John especially brings out the innocence of Jesus.

For example, as we saw last week, Jesus doesn’t run away like a criminal, but instead he actually goes out to meet the mob that is coming to capture him. That’s why we read in John 18:4 So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them [the guards and Judas], “Whom do you seek?”

That’s not what guilty people do…furthermore the text emphasizes that they are coming out against him with “lanterns, and torches and weapons” (cf. v.3) and yet Jesus had openly walked and taught in the synagogues and public places. Jesus was clearly not raising up an army or seeking to make a coup. And yet, that’s how they treated him…like a dangerous insurrectionist. We’ll see that ironically brought up in the text that we are studying today.

But one of the key points of the text this morning is that Jesus is a King and He does indeed have a Kingdom. However, His Kingdom isn’t like any other kingdom on this earth.

In our study through the Gospel of John, the “kingdom” hasn’t been an overt theme very often. That’s a pretty significant contrast to the synoptic gospels. Between Matthew, Mark, and Luke they use the word “kingdom” 121 times. Comparatively, John uses the term “kingdom” 5x in only 3 verses.

Jesus speaks about the kingdom with Nicodemus back in John 3, when he tells Nicodemus, “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And then the word “kingdom” isn’t brought up again until our passage this morning in v.36 of John 18. I bring this up for a couple reasons.

First, even though the idea of the Kingdom of God hasn’t been an explicitly dominant theme in the Gospel of John, there is no way of understanding the cross of Jesus and his betrayal and trials, apart from understanding Jesus’ true Kingship and His Kingdom.

Second reason I bring this up, is because we need to understand from the outset that there truly are only two kingdoms. There is the Kingdom of God, and then there is the Kingdom of Satan or the Kingdom of this earth. And although, the Kingdom of Satan may take on different forms like we’ll see in the passage today with the Jews and the Romans, they are still united in their purpose against the Kingdom of God.

• In my bible study yesterday morning I came across Colossians 1:13 which stuck out me as I was thinking about this sermon, which says, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,”

You see there are only 2 domains…there are only 2 kingdoms.

This morning, we are continuing our theme of Enjoying Life in His Name, and we are considering enjoying life in His name by following the True King.

The major players in our passage this morning are the Jews, represented by the chief priests and pharisees. The Romans, represented by the governor, Pilate. And then Jesus. On the surface it would appear like there are 3 kingdoms, the Jews, the Romans and then Jesus. However, as we’ll see the Jews and the Romans, although on the surface they are opposed to each other, they are willing to unite in their efforts against the True King, Jesus Christ. So in terms of Colossians 1:13, the Jews and the Romans are part of the domain of darkness not the kingdom of His beloved Son.

Follow along with me as I pick up the story in John18:28 and read to the end of v.40. [that’s on page XX] And remember at this point, Jesus has already been arrested and has been tried before Annas the “high priest.” John calls Annas first, the father-in-law of Caiaphas (in v.13), but then in the following verses he calls Annas the high priest. But he also calls Caiaphas the high priest. Some people point to a discrepancy here, but this discrepancy is easily explained.

Annas was the high priest, but the Romans had decided to remove him from being high priest and they made Caiaphas high priest instead. But according to the OT law, a high priest was high priest until he died. So in the eyes of the Jews the “true” high priest was Annas and that’s why Jesus is sent to him first. But Caiaphas actually holds the office of high priest so Jesus goes to Caiaphas to be tried after he has been tried by Annas. John doesn’t tell us any details of the trial before Caiaphas. He instead picks up the story right after leaving Caiaphas’ house which is where we pick up the story in v.28.

So both Annas the “true” high priest in the eyes of the Jews and Caiaphas, the high priest who is currently in that office, have judged that Jesus is a blasphemer and deserving of death. So they lead him to Pilate.

Follow along with me in v.28…

[Read John 18:28–40]

**make a sidenote comment about the Passover referring the Passover meal which Jesus had, and then the Feast of Unleavened Bread which went for the next 7 days.**

With the time we have remaining we are going to focus on 2 characteristics of Christ’s Followers in a World of False Kingdoms.

Followers of Christ Love Truth (v.37)

The first characteristic is that followers of Christ love the truth.

Jesus’ conversation with Pilate is so crucial for us to understand. Jesus tells Pilate why he came to earth in the first place…why was he born…what is he doing right now…and what that means for you and me and the whole world.

Notice what Jesus says in v.37 “...for this reason I have been born and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Jesus is crystal clear, not just that followers of Christ love the truth, but whoever loves THE TRUTH hears and listens to Jesus’ voice. The clear implication is that if we do not listen to Jesus, then we are not of the truth!

Everyone present except for Jesus is ultimately on trial…the Jews have already tried Jesus and found him guilty…and because of that, they haven’t listened to his voice…therefore, the judgment on the Jews is they are not of the truth. The Jews have now brought Jesus to Pilate to be tried by Pilate…but who’s really on trial here is Pilate…will he be of the truth and listen to Jesus, or will he be like the Jews and refuse to listen to Jesus’ voice?

The Jews and Pilate are examples of all of us, if we don’t repent and trust in Christ as Lord and Savior. And we’re supposed to see clearly that the Jewish leaders and Pilate are 180 degrees off of the direction they should be going…

Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

That’s what we see the Jewish leaders and Pilate doing. The question we have to ask, is are we doing the same thing today?

So let’s break down what it means to love the truth. If you’re a follower of Christ, then we will love the truth which means we will not twist the truth.

They do not twist truth (vv.29–32)

That’s clearly what the Jews are doing, and Pilate recognizes very quickly this really isn’t even a case that he should be dealing with. The Jews hate Jesus for some reason and so he tells them in v.31, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”

• In other words, don’t bother me with your Jewish squabbles.

But the Jews are very clear what they are after. They respond quickly and say, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.”

There you have it. They need Pilate…they need the Roman authority to execute Jesus. John immediately adds, “This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”

• - So even though the Jews were not interested in THE TRUTH, ironically, their manipulating and twisting of the truth to paint Jesus as guilty and deserving of death, only serves to show that Jesus’ Words that he spoke and that are recorded in John 12:32–33 are true. They read, “’And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.’ But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.”

Jesus was born and came into the world for this very reason…to testify to the truth. The Jews are proving the truthfulness of Jesus’ words as he’s going to die in the exact way that he had prophesied he would!

But notice how the Jews bring Jesus to Pilate…Pilate asks a very logical and very reasonable question of the Jews. He asks, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” The Jews answer is anything but an honest answer. They retort, “If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.”

• Essentially, they tell Pilate, he’s already been tried and found guilty by us, we don’t need your trial, we just need your authority to crucify him.

• They aren’t concerned with the truth, they are concerned with the outcome, and if they have to manufacture false witness, hold a trial in the middle of the night, rush the trial and quickly move Jesus to Pilate to get a death sentence, well it’s all justified so long as Jesus is gone.

You could say it this way, Followers of Jesus are not pragmatists…as Christians, we do not justify what we do based on the outcome. Followers of Jesus obey the truth period. The outcome isn’t really the issue. Being obedient to the truth is.

We probably don’t have to think very hard to see how this pragmatism and twisting of the truth plays out in our lives, but here’s some questions to help you think.

• When Scripture calls us to be our brother’s keeper, do we justify not lovingly confronting their sin because, “well, they won’t listen?” One of the goals of confrontation is the hope that they will listen. But the main reason we confront them isn’t because they will listen, but because that’s what Jesus commands…so if we are of the truth, we will listen to His voice.

• Or how about seeking out accountability. You know you need accountability, but instead of being totally forthright and honest, you hold back the most serious things between you and God alone. You can convince yourself, well I really need to confess this to God so no one else needs to know. And so we just twist the truth of who we really are with those we are asking for accountability.

• Or maybe when you’ve sinned against another person and you know you should confess to them and ask their forgiveness, but you pragmatically twist the clear commands of Scripture to be what is most comfortable to you. Maybe you rationalize, they never knew so maybe it would do more harm than good for them if they did know.

We could bring up examples of spending money or paying taxes, or using personal days as vacation days, etc.

Followers of Christ love the truth and so they do not twist it…twisting the truth is the opposite of loving the truth.

Loving the truth also means, not running from the truth.

They do not run from truth (vv.35, 38)

The Jews are the prime example of twisting the truth in this passage, and Pilate is the prime example of running from the truth or simply trying to dismiss the truth.

Jesus pulls no punches when he ABSOLUTELY claims to testify to the TRUTH, and that everyone who is of the truth hears his voice.

The implication is very clear. If Pilate was of the truth, then he would listen to the voice of Jesus, which would mean he would recognize Jesus’ Kingship and Kingdom and obey him. But that’s not the route that Pilate takes.

Pilate’s way of running from the truth is much like our culture’s way of running from the truth.

In v.35 Pilate dismisses the issue of Jesus’ Kingship as not having any bearing on him because he is not a Jew. In other words, maybe you are a King and that’s true, but that truth has nothing to do with me as a Roman.

In v.38 Pilate does something similar. In answer to Jesus’ absolute claim to testify to the truth and everyone who is of truth listens to him, Pilate retorts with, “What is truth?”

In these two short response by Pilate we see a couple of the most often used strategies of our current culture for running from the truth.

First, in v.35 Pilate’s response is essentially, “Whatever is true for you, is true for you.” Jews, your truth is your truth. But I’m not a Jew and so I have my own truth!

• That’s simply relativism. The idea that truth is relative. Truth changes based on who you are, you’re up bringing, your culture, what century you were born in, etc.

Followers of Jesus do not buy into truth being relative.

Truth is fixed. The logic in the last few chapters in the gospel of John about the truth are very important for followers of Jesus to understand and know. Especially in the current cultural setting we find ourselves.

In John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’”

Jesus claims very clearly in that verse that truth is absolute. HE—meaning Jesus—is THE way (only one way) and THE TRUTH (only one truth)—and the LIFE (only one life); no one comes to the Father except through him. Jesus doesn’t leave any room for He’s a good truth and a good way to the Father, but there are other truths and other ways. There is no relativism there…there is only absolutism!

• Jesus is absolutely the TRUTH and anything that goes against what Jesus claims is false.

Then in John 14:16–17 Jesus tells his disciples, “’I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; ¹⁷ that is the Spirit of truth…”

• One of the names of the Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of Truth.” Now, if Jesus is the truth, and he is sending the Spirit of truth, then the Holy Spirit and Jesus must always agree.

Then if we connect these two passages with John 17:17 where Jesus prays, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” We can see that Jesus defines God’s Word as TRUTH.

• So that means that Jesus must agree with the Spirit, which must agree with His Word, and that also helps us understand one of the primary roles that the Holy Spirit plays in a believer’s life.

• We know that the Holy Spirit is given to us to help us grow and to live more holy Christlike lives. In order to do that we must be sanctified in the truth, which is God’s Word.

• So one of the primary purposes God gave us the Holy Spirit is so that we’d understand His Word better!

The point of walking through those verses is to make it very clear, that relativism just won’t work. Followers of Jesus love the truth, which means they love the voice of Jesus, which means they love the Bible.

• EXAMPLE: So when the Bible says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) and we are to love God and love others…we love that and we listen to that, rather than buying into lies like, you need to learn to love and care for yourself first.

• EXAMPLE: Or when the Bible in Ephesians 5:3 says that not even a hint of sexual immorality should be named among the saints, we love that and listen to that.

• o We don’t run from the truth by relativizing the Bible by saying, “well that was written to a different culture and the Bible doesn’t address or know anything of a committed loving relationship between two people that aren’t married. So I agree that’s true, but this is different.”

Our culture loves to make truth relative SO THAT I don’t have to be constrained to live by THE TRUTH, rather I’m FREE to live by MY truth.

• Friend, that’s the game Pilate was playing 2000 years ago when he was speaking to THE TRUTH!

Christian friend, can I ask you to consider if you’ve be influenced and bought into the idea that truth is relative?

• - Could it be that you’re afraid to share the gospel boldly with your friends or invite your coworkers to join you for church or a Wednesday night class because you’ve bought into the idea that I don’t want to force my beliefs on anyone else…that would be unloving.

• o Friend, you can’t force your beliefs on anyone else, but you absolutely can stand up boldly for THE TRUTH.

If you LOVE the truth, then you’ll love to speak the truth and point others to the truth, WHO is Jesus!

In v.38 – Pilate’s flippant remark is not a good remark. He essentially dismisses Jesus’ birth and life as being what he claims it to be. His question of, “What is truth?” probably has the force of “How can you know what is really true?”

This is the sentiment of agnostics. The agnostic approach to running from the truth is to just throw their hands up and say, “I don’t know. It’s just impossible to know for sure.”

Pilate is confronted with the reality that the Jews have delivered over an innocent man. That’s why Pilate declares him not guilty. And by the end of Pilate’s interactions with Jesus that carry into chapter 19, Pilate will declare Jesus not guilty three times.

So Pilate is not guilty of twisting the truth the ways the Jews are. But Pilate is certainly guilty of running from the truth and trying not to make a clear yes or no decision about what is true. Pilate dismisses Jesus’ claim to his birth and life testifying to the truth.

Ironically, although the interview is over and Pilate has just claimed relativism and agnosticism, he goes out and absolutely and rightly declares that Jesus is innocent. But instead of standing for the truth, and loving the truth, he tries to skirt his way out of making a real decision about Jesus by offering a choice between Jesus and Barabbas.

Friend, if you’re treating the truth the way Pilate does, my exhortation to you is to repent and love the truth. Repent and love Jesus who is the King of Truth!

If you do that, and choose to follow Jesus and the truth, then as a follower of Jesus you’ll be consistent.

They are consistent (vv.28, 38–40)

When I’m using the word that followers of Jesus are consistent, what I mean is that they are not hypocritical. Rather, they have integrity.

Both the Jews and Pilate are inconsistent and hypocritical in their handling of Jesus.

• The hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders is particularly surprising considering they were the religious and moral teachers. They were the ones who practically speaking were the ones who were to have the most integrity and consistency with the truth.

In Matthew 5:20 Jesus says, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

• If you’re familiar with the New Testament I think it’s pretty easy for us to develop a negative view of the Pharisees and Scribes. And that’s understandable because the gospels really uncover their power hungry, hypocrisy.

• But when Jesus says that our righteousness must surpass the scribes and Pharisees, he is using the people who in that day and age were considered and thought to be the most righteous, truthful, godly people alive!

• Jesus didn’t say your righteousness must exceed that of liars and thieves! No, in he actually used the Scribes and Pharisees as some kind of positive marker in that text to show us how desperate we are for Christ and his saving grace through the cross.

So it is incredible to see just how inconsistent, and hypocritical the scribes and Pharisees become when they are up close and personal with the one who was born in order to testify to the truth!

• Jesus’ life, his trial and his death reveal the truth about the scribes and Pharisees…they hated the truth even though they had committed their lives to studying the Scriptures and worshiping God.

Take the Jews for instance, in v.28…

John 18:28b, “…they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.”

They are still thinking about ceremonial cleanliness, which is commanded in the OT, and yet they are having no problem expediently working to execute not only a man who was innocent, but the man who the OT was prophesying about and anticipating! Remember the words of Jesus in John 5…

John 5:39–40 “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

And then of course, we see the pinnacle of irony when they choose Barabbas over Jesus. The NASAB tells us, v.40 “Now Barabbas was a robber.”

The word translated robber does literally mean, ‘one who seizes plunder.’ So robber is an appropriate translation here. However, when we combine this with what Matthew, Mark and Luke say about Barabbas—that he was a “notorious prisoner”, a “murderer” and an “insurrectionist”— we learn that this man was probably a man who was part of the resistance against Rome. So when the Jews shout to have Barabbas released, the hypocrisy is almost too much to believe!

• They have brought Jesus to Pilate and Pilate has perceived they have accused him of being a King and being some sort of threat to Rome. But it’s obvious that Jesus is really no threat to Rome at all!

• So instead of releasing a clearly innocent person, they scream to have a person released who is actually guilty of the very insurrection that they are accusing Jesus of.

Followers of Jesus love the truth, and as a result are consistent and coherent rather than hypocritical.

Pilate, likewise, ends up being hypocritical.

He declares Jesus to be innocent, but then tries to use a custom of “releasing” a prisoner to politically squirm his way out of a sticky situation. The fact that Jesus was even up for “release” betrays the very declaration the Pilate just made of Jesus having no guilt. Pilate may have been seeking to let Jesus go, but if Pilate was on the side of the truth, he would have used his authority to stand up for the truth rather than hypocritically condemn an innocent man in front of the crowd.

Clearly, as followers of Christ we need to be different than the Jews or Pilate. But please don’t miss the fact that Jesus alone is perfect and always acts in accordance with the truth. He is the TRUTH!

• If we want to love the truth by following Jesus, it begins with admitting the truth about Jesus and what the TRUTH about Jesus says about us.

• The truth is, Jesus is taking the place of a sinner and criminal even though he is clearly sinless. Acknowledging the truth begins with recognizing that Jesus, standing as a condemned criminal is actually standing where you and I deserve to be. We are not always consistent, and we struggle with hypocrisy. That’s why we need Jesus’ substitutionary death.

• But part of how you grow more consistent is by being truthful and honest when you recognize hypocrisy in your life.

So Christians, if we are going to love the truth, that means we will grow more consistent as we grow more consistent in repentance.

So point number one is that we should love the truth. But in loving the truth, I hope this didn’t become a point where we just pat ourselves on the back and compliment ourselves for being truth loving people.

Jesus’ life, His Spirit, and His Word testify to the truth, and the more closely we walk with Him and the more closely we hold the Word of truth to our life, the more we see our need for Jesus and the more we’ll grow in our love of Jesus!

Secondly, followers of Christ are also, Kingdom-focused.

Followers of Christ are Kingdom-focused (v.36)

The focus of the interrogation by Pilate is clearly focused on Jesus being a king. Pilates first question is, “Are You the King of the Jews?” and his third question after Jesus’ response about his kingdom in v.36 is “So you are a king?”

Jesus acknowledges clearly that he is a King. Both vv.36–37 show that Jesus admits to being a King. But in v.36 we learn a critical aspect about His Kingdom and about what it means to be a servant of the King that is crucial for us while we are currently living in a world full of false kingdoms.

Notice what Jesus says,

John 18:36 “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”

The first part of this I’d like to draw your attention to, is Jesus’ emphasis on his Kingdom not being of this world and as a result his servants aren’t fighting right now.

Jesus’ point is not that his kingdom isn’t real, or that there is no battle going on. Rather, Jesus’ words draw our attention to the fact that as followers of Christ we are engaged in fighting a spiritual battle.

They fight a spiritual battle (v.36)

One of the largest budget items any kingdom/nation has is its defense and military budget. The rule of the world is the one with the most power and the most guns wins.

We live in a violent world, and kingdoms that are on top have won their power through physical violence often times.

• You don’t have to search very hard to prove that…Afghanistan is certainly the most recent and sad illustration of the truth that violence is the means to power.

That’s why the issue of Jesus’ Kingdom and Kingship matters so much the Jewish leaders and also to Rome.

The Jews in this very passage are fighting politically, and physically to execute Jesus who is a threat to their very way of life.

John 11:48–50 clearly reveals that, “If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”

The Jews are fighting physically against Jesus, and in order to do so, they need the power and violence of Rome to do away with Jesus.

Don’t miss the fact that Jesus is engaged in a battle currently as well. Jesus is not a passive victim in this, but his fighting looks much different than the way the domain of darkness fights.

In John 15:24–25 Jesus says, “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

Jesus knows the that their hatred of him is part of the purpose he came to fulfill in testifying to the truth. But Jesus doesn’t fight at this point like the we would expect a King to fight.

And his disciples and servants don’t fight the way we’d expect.

Peter took the classic approach to fight for Jesus earlier in the chapter when he took out a sword and cut off one of the soldiers ears. But Jesus commanded Peter to put away the sword.

Jesus is marching forward in battle, but it’s a spiritual battle. It’s a battle between truth and lies, between light and dark. And so as followers of Christ we must follow our King as he points us to the real battle that is spiritual rather than physical.

Paul explicitly says as much in Ephesians 6:11–12 ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

And because the battle is spiritual followers of Christ fight using spiritual weapons.

They fight using spiritual weapons (v.31)

The Jews and the Romans use swords, clubs, stones, whips and the cross to fight. As Americans, we love to use money and reputation to fight. So maybe we don’t use physical weapons in our daily lives as much, but don’t miss the fact that we still easily employ physical weapons rather than spiritual weapons.

We are witnessing Jesus marching into the battle to defeat sin and death once and for all on the cross!

Colossians 2:13–15 says, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

Jesus triumphed over the false, wicked kingdom of Satan and sin through his death! As followers of Christ being Kingdom focused means fighting with Kingdom weapons!

The disciples were struggling with Jesus being delivered over to death and were fighting for the Kingdom now…but what they didn’t understand was that in this age, fighting for the kingdom isn’t done through violence and physical weapons.

So Christian friend, are you actively fighting? Are you engaged in the spiritual battle with spiritual weapons?

Let me make this practical. Ephesians 6:14–16 lists the armor of God that we are to put on in order to be able to stand and fight the battle in a world full of false kingdoms that raise their head against the true King.

Eph 6:14–16 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Let me ask you, have you been engaged in the spiritual battle this fall?

• Have you girded your loins with the truth?

• Have you used the brochures that our church has put together, highlight classes that are going to be teaching the practical truth of God’s Word to a community that is full of people who are currently lost in their sins and serving a false king?

• There is a lot of political hot button issues going on right now, and with COVID protocols and cases going up, are you engaged in the spiritual battle with the spiritual weapons we’ve been given? Or are you engaged in a battle that is more concerned with physical kingdoms?

Friends if we’re going to be Kingdom focused, then we need to be alert to the battle that isn’t against flesh and blood.

In order to do that we must look to our King.

They look to their King (vv. 37, 33-34)

The true King Jesus, leads us in the way we should go.

Romans 12:21 says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

And that’s exactly what Jesus is doing. The Jews are falsely accusing him and slandering him, and abusing him. Pilate is sheepishly side-stepping clear justice.

• And what is Jesus doing? He is willingly laying down his life for the sins of many. He is willingly laying down his life for his friends.

But don’t miss the fact that we cannot be his friends if he doesn’t die in our place first. We didn’t first start as his friends…

That’s why Romans 5:10 says, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

We are friends with Jesus, because he chose to die for his enemies and thereby reconcile us to him and make us his friends.

So if we’re going to look to our King, then we need to follow his example, by doing what Jesus did for us and listening to Jesus’ words when he said in Matthew 5:44 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”

Jesus’ conversation with Pilate is remarkable to me. Pilate doesn’t respond well, but Jesus lovingly is inviting Pilate to be of the truth. Jesus remained silent to most of the questions the Jews asked in the trial…in the next chapter we will see that Jesus gives a little silent treatment to Pilate. But at this point in the conversation, Jesus is quite forthright with who he is, what kind of king he is, and what that means for Pilate.

Sadly, Pilate rejects Jesus’ offer of submitting to the true King.

I pray that if Jesus’ is lovingly inviting you this morning to submit to Him, that you won’t be like Pilate. I pray that the words of Jesus that were said 2000 years ago, to wicked Pilate, will be heard by you today, such that you might leave this place not as an enemy of Jesus, but as His friend and servant!

And finally, followers of Christ who are kingdom focused they look to the coming Kingdom.

They look to the coming Kingdom

This sounds somewhat redundant to the main point of being Kingdom-focused. But I want to emphasize that looking to the coming Kingdom means that we are going to be kingdom focused right now. So the idea that you could be too heavenly minded to be any earthly good, is just not true…

Titus 2:13–14 says, “¹³ waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

You see if our blessed hope and longing is the coming Kingdom of God, then we’re going to be zealous for good works right now. We’re going to be passionate about serving people and seeking to win people into the coming Kingdom of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

So ask yourself, are you zealously serving and following Christ? Are you loving the truth and focused on the Kingdom?

• If the answer is not really, or only lackadaisically so, then let me encourage you to me pray for and meditate on the majesty, and beauty and goodness of the coming Kingdom of our great Lord.

It’s like Paul says in 2 Cor. 4:17–18 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

So as we move into this fall, I hope that you’ll use your personal Bible study, your personal prayer life, the Sunday morning ministries, small group ministries, and Wednesday night ministries to help you cultivate a mind that is set on the things above, so that you’ll be passionately engaged in the spiritual battle that is being waged until Christ returns to finish it.

Let me ask you, do you think there is a battle going on? I don’t think it’s very hard to prove that there is.

• - Do you think there was a battle going on with the Jews, Romans and Jesus?

• o Again, it’s pretty easy to see that there was.

My encouragement to all of us, is to make sure that we look to the truth and the true King for our marching orders, rather than being sidetracked with a whole bunch of unimportant, distracting skirmishes that have nothing to do with seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness as Matt. 6:33 tells us to do.

Let’s pray to that end, shall we?