THEME: "MY GOD IS GREATER THAN I”-I Got It All With The Lord Jesus. Colossians 2:9, "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." One moment with the Master and darkness flees in the presence of His light. The soul longing for a fresh air of truth will always react to truth in the flesh.
LESSON-4: "TRUTH ON TRIAL" – IT PAINTS A PICTURE OF PURE GOLD. The TRUTH needs no defense, because truth is the total absence of fault.
KEY VERSE: Jhn 18:38, "Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all."
I. INTRODUCTION:
Christian experience & doctrinal truths are tried daily to see if they will withstand the test. In facing His trial, the secret to the Lord Jesus' victory was rooted in truth & His commitment to a cause. Though tried, truth needs no defense. Truth will prevail. The Lord Jesus first trial before Pilate, describe the fin- dings of these 6-trials: ". I find in Him no fault at all." Even He didn't attempt to depend Himself be- cause truth needs no defense.
II. TOPICS TO BE DISCUSS:
A. The Hypocrisy of the Jews. Although truth stood in front of them, it was evident that they were loo- king for a way to justify their actions rather than looking for truth (Mrk 14:55). It's certainly evident that they were not interested in truth.
1. The letter of the Law. The Pharisees' fascination with the letters of the law led to repeated philo- sophical clashes between Jesus and the culture in which He lived. The letter of the law fascinated them, but they overlooked the Spirit, or the source of the law.
a) These good people became obsessed with detailed instructions about their laws, for they define those that God gave to Moses. As a result, they ended up with a religion that bound them.
b) They no longer served God to please Him, they served the dictates of the law to please people. c) Although none of us would consider ourselves pharisaical, it is possible that we could become so religious that we forget why we are religious.
2. Defensiveness. The Jews who led the Lord Jesus to Pilate were not physically blind or cognitively impaired, the problem was that their hearts were blinded (2Cor 3:14-16).
a) They placed truth on trial, but they failed to consider all the evidence (Jhn 5:39).
b) Truth needs no defense, but defending a belief unsubstantiated by Scripture can box the defen-
der into a corner where he cannot see truth with it standing before him.
c) Therefore, we should avail ourselves of the Word of God to avoid falling into the category of being willingly ignorant (2Pet 3:5).
3. Fulfilling God's Word. John declared that this all came about as fulfillment of prophesy concer- ning the Lord Jesus: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This He said, signifying what death He Should die" (Jhn 12:32-33).
a) Five hundred years before Jesus walked on this earth, Zechariah prophesied about the method of Jesus death (Zec 12:10).
b) If the Jews had exercised their method of capital punishment, they would have stoned Him like Stephen, but the prophetic word of God prevailed.
c) Apostle John declared, 1Jhn 3:8, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil."
d) God overruled tradition and allowed the Jews hypocrisy to fulfill His plan.
B. Truth versus Tradition.
1. A troubled Pilate. When anyone faces truth, he may react in several ways.
a) One reaction might be to receive truth with open arms.
a-1) Indeed, the introduction of truth into any situation brings freedom to the honest-hearted. a-2) The Lord Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (Jhn 8:32).
b) Another possible reaction is to reject truth outright. Upon hearing a bold statement of the Lord Jesus in Jhn 8:32,
b-1) "They answered Him, we be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?” (Jhn 8:33).
b-2) Holding to a false belief, some of those present blindly rejected truth and failed to consi- der the possibility that Jesus could be the Messiah for whom they sought (Jhn 8:34-37).
c) A third reaction might involve a person's accommodation of truth without immediate assimila- ting it into his life.
c-1) Pilate's question to Jesus "Art thou the King of the Jews" (Jhn 18:33), suggests that he was in such a state of wrestling over truth.
c-2) Pilate neither accept or reject Jesus. Instead, he pondered the words & tried to make sense of them.
2. A confident Christ. Truth speaks with confidence. One of the reasons that it is so easy to present the apostolic message is that it is truth. It requires absolutely no defense.
a) The conversation between Pilate & the Lord Jesus exemplifies how one should present the gos- gospel with confidence and compassion (Jhn 18:33-39).
b) The Lord Jesus said nothing against Pilate culture or religion. He simply responded to Pilate's on with honest answers. Every question Pilate posed allowed the Lord Jesus Christ to share a little more truth.
3. Truth defined. When Pilate ask the Lord Jesus the extremely important question regarding truth, he did not wait for an answer. However, he may have answered when he stated "I find in Him no fault at all" (Jhn 18:38). Certainly, truth is the total absence of fault.
a) What do we learn from the scriptures about truth? Jesus proclaimed that He is the truth: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Jhn 14:6).
b) Therefore if we place our faith in Him, we can believe everything He says. Jesus placed great emphasis upon the facts that His teachings were truth.
C. Substitute for Truth. Pilate's conclusion that he found no fault in the Lord Jesus at the end of his in- terview paints a picture of pure gold. It was truth, and yet he allowed the Jews the free will to choose a substitute for truth.
1. Grace offered. God offered grace immediately upon the fall of mankind. God had tenderly taken Adam and performed the first surgery in order to produce a helper acceptable to him and to ward off loneliness. Their choice to sin, we discover 2-characteristics of sinful human nature. The first thing that mankind did was to attempt to cover his sin, then he attempted to hide from the voice of God (Gen 3:9).
a) God displayed His grace by first calling Adam's name as though He did not know his where- about.
b) However, grace is really the heartbeat of God & all He wanted was to confess their sin. Grace will provide the rest (Gen 3:21).
c) Grace extended even farther after Cain rejected the counsel of God and killed his brother Abel (Gen 4:9).
d) When a person rejects the offer of salvation and chooses a sinful lifestyle that will ultimately destroy him, history repeats itself.
2. Grace displayed. We might said, “I'd rather see a sermon than hear one." Indeed, Jesus provided object lessons for His hearers on more than one occasion.
a) One object lesson occurred between the judgment hall and Golgotha, when Jesus tried to com- municate the message of the requirement of cross bearing to His disciple (Mat 10:38; 16:24).
b) In one last effort to communicate that message, an ordinary man was required to carry Jesus' cross and follow Him to the place of crucifixion.
b-1) Tradition indicates that Jesus fell under the weight of the cross, but scripture does not im- ply that He was unable to bear the weight of the cross.
b-2) In fact, its unthinkable that the one who bore the sins of the world couldn't bear the cross to the top of the hill.
b-3) Instead, the Lord Jesus Christ use this opportunity to preach His last sermon: (Lke 9:23), "And he said to them all, If any man will come afterme, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross daily, and follow me.'
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c) Similarly, Barabbas stood that day as the type for all sinners, and Jesus stood as scapegoat, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (Mat 27:17-21).
d) This custom of releasing a prisoner at the time of the Passover was symbolic of Israel's release from prison in Egypt.
e) The object lesson of Barabbas' freedom stands for all of us. We were no better off than he was We were all destined to eternal death in hell, but Jesus demonstrated grace and took our place.
III. CONCLUSION:
We had seen a picture paints in pure gold of truth on trial on this lesson. No greater example of truth exists than the Lord Jesus Himself, for He remains the ultimate source of truth. When He walked upon the earth, He was in truth personified. Certainly, truth still speaks with authority today. John expressed sentiment that likely sums up the heartbeat of our Lord Jesus: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" (3Jhn 4).
"To God Be The Glory” - “Praise The Lord"