Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / John

John 19:1-16 11/19/06

Message: ‘The Struggle for POWER’             Text: John 19:1-16

Introduction: Have yoever told your child that they couldn’t do something, and this is what you heard? ‘When I grow up, then I can do whatever I want to do.’?

Wouldn’t it be great to have the power to do whatever you wanted to do? Children grow up and face the harsh reality that even adults can’t do what ever they want to do. What children and adults are looking for…is power. So where does power come from?

·       Does it come from being the biggest kid on the block or the most popular in school?

·       Does it come from being the biggest giver in the church or knowing more about the Bible than anyone else?

·       Does it come from being able to buy just about whatever you want?

·       Or does true power come from someplace else?

Transition: Open your Bibles to John 19:1 (pg. 827 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you). It’s here we’ll find the source of true power.

I. John 19:1-3              Roman Power

Read: John 19:1-3

A Roman governor had the power to beat an innocent man. But this was no ordinary beating and this was no ordinary innocent man.

Here begins the physical torment of our Lord predicted in Isaiah 53.

·       Pieces of metal, bone, even iron hooks, were embedded in the strands of a leather whip.

·       When someone…no, lets make it personal and real, when Jesus was repeatedly hit with this whip, his skin was ripped off his back

·       As the lashings continued the metal, bone and hooks would tear the underlying skeletal muscles and produce chunks of pulsating, bleeding flesh.

·       Then Jesus was turned around so the same could happen to his chest…eventually exposing his intestines.

·       Finally, with skin and muscle out of the way, bones were chipped and the fragments were scattered throughout his quivering body.

John says all that in one sentence ‘Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.’ One sentence.

Most of us read this without really thinking about what happened and then go immediately to the next sentence. But, if you saw the movie The Passion of the Christ perhaps you find yourself lingering here as you graphically remember the extreme suffering that Jesus endured.

Perhaps the movie or the description I just gave you makes you wish you could go back in time with a machine gun and cut down those Roman soldiers for what they did to your Lord.

·       But keep in mind, it wasn’t just the Roman soldiers who were exercising power.

·       It was your power to sin and your need for forgiveness that placed Jesus there.

·       And remember, the excruciating pain, the unbearable agony, the complete shame and humiliation Jesus suffered that day…was for you.

·       Let that sink in for a moment or two.

The Roman soldiers made a crown out of a thorny vine and placed it on Jesus’ head. And with the power of Rome behind them,  they made a mockery of Jesus’ kingship.

You know Pilate actually thought he was doing Jesus a favor. He thought if he beat Jesus bad enough, perhaps the religious leaders would relent and Pilate could let him go.

Transition: Rome exercised it’s power. Then Pilate, the representative of Rome, exercised power he didn’t know he had.

II. John 19:4-5   Verbal Power

Read: John 19:4-5

Pilate actually speaks the truth, but doesn’t realize what he’s saying. ‘Here is the man’ or perhaps your translations reads ‘Behold, the man.’ This is a title of the Messiah found in Zech. 6:12.

Unknowingly, Pilate was presenting to the nation of Israel their promised Messiah.

There is great power in these words to those who will listen, to those who will stand on the side of truth. But that day there was no one to listen, no one to take a stand for truth.

Transition: Next we find that the religious leaders struggle for power put them on the wrong side of truth.

III. John 19:6-7 Religious Power

Read: John 19:6-7

Pilate found no fault in Jesus and wanted to let him go but the religious leaders would not relent. They exercised their religious power by telling Pilate they have a law that states Jesus must died because he claimed to be the Son of God. It was the blasphemy law found in Lev. 24:16.

They wanted Jesus dead and the crowd chanted ’Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’ The reaction of the crowd shows just how powerful hatred of God can be in the unsaved person, although today, especially in the US, that hatred is often veiled as indifference.

Religious Power. I find it amazing how people, even Christians, will use the Bible to exert power over someone.

·       Men us Eph. 5:22 ‘Wives, submit to your husbands’ to exercise power over their wives.

·       Parents use Eph. 6:1 ‘Children, obey your parents…’ to exercise power of their children.

·       People during the founding of our country used 1 Cor. 7:21 or Col. 3:22 to exercise power over African human beings bought and sold and slaves.

Taken out of context, these texts have been abused by people whose only desire is to exercise power and dominance over others. And this is what the religious leaders are attempting to do here. They are in a struggle for power and they will do and say anything to exercise that power…even abuse God’s Word.

Transition: Something the religious leaders said struck a nerve with Pilate…let’s see what it was.

IV. John 19:8-11        True Power

Read: John 19:8-11

If Pilate was uneasy before, he’s shaking in his sandals now. Although Pilate wasn’t Jewish, historians tell us he was a superstitious man. Perhaps he was thinking he might just be sending the son of a god to his death….and that can’t be good.

The stakes just got higher for Pilate and it frightened him. And he resorts to the only thing that has worked for him in the past…power.

Pilate asked Jesus, if I may paraphrase:

·       ‘Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know what I can do to you? I hold the power of the Emperor of Rome and in my hands is your life and death. And you refuse to speak to me?’

Pilate hoping to strike fear in Jesus heart by a demonstration of his power, but it didn’t work. Why? Because Jesus understood that all power comes from God and whatever power people may have is delegated to them by God and is limited by God’s will and purpose.

Then Jesus said something rather strange. It sounds like he’s letting Pilate off the hook for his actions.

Read: John 19:11b ‘Therefore the one who handed you over to me is guilty of a greater sin.’

Notice that Jesus said ‘a greater sin’. He wasn’t letting Pilate off the hook but was saying that those who knew better (the religious leaders) were more responsible for this sin than he was, not being a Jew. But, Jesus reminded Pilate that he has still has sinned against God and for that… he will answer.

Sidebar: We know that there will be differing rewards in heaven for those Christians found faithful here on Earth. But does this text  imply that there will be varying degrees of punishment in Hell based on the severity of the sin of unbelievers while on Earth? Just something to think about.

Transition: In the pursuit of power many people are not afraid to alter the truth to exercise their power.

V. John 19:12-13        Coercive Power

Read: John 19:12-13

Pilate knows Jesus is innocent and attempts to set him free. However, the religions leaders exercise a little coercive power…actually they threaten him. They tell Pilate unless they execute Jesus they will tell Caesar Tiberius on him. In other words, they will rat him out.

You might be thinking so what, the Romans didn’t like the Jews and certainly Caesar would take Pilates side rather than listen to the Jews.  But, Caesar Tiberius was a very suspicious man and was brutal in the treatment of those whose loyalty to Rome was in question.

The religious leaders would tell Caesar that Pilate refused to sentence a man who said he was a king and who openly opposed Caesar. (Not true but Caesar wouldn’t know that) And that wouldn’t look good for Pilate. Pilate is backed into a corner and he must now choose on which side of the truth he will stand.

Transition: Power has a dark side, as we learned from that great theological masterpiece, Star Wars. It’s amazing just how far our struggle for power can take us.

VI. John 19:14-16      Corrupting Power     

Read: John 19:14-16

Listen again to these almost unbelievable words coming from the religious leaders.

Read: John 19:15b ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ Pilate asked ‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the chief priest answered.’

·       Do you understand what the religious leaders were saying?

·       Do you understand what these supposed men of God, were declaring?

·       Do you understand the serious implications of these 6 words ‘We have no king but Caesar’?

·       Do you understand that these 6 words constitute a defining moment in the history of the Jewish people?

Read: Isaiah 44:6 ‘This is what the LORD says— Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.’

Israel was supposed to be a theocracy. Did the Jewish religious leaders forget this text, forget that God was their king? No. They just didn’t care. They saw their power waning and they were willing to do or say anything to keep it.

In one act of rebellion, using just 6 words, the Jewish religious leaders had essentially renounced all Messianic hope, placing their faith and hope in Caesar and Rome, rather than Jesus, the Messiah and God the Father.

·       They exchanged Jesus the Messiah for Barabbas

·       They exchanged the One True and Ever Living God for Caesar.

·       They exchanged the Kingdom of God for the Roman Empire.

·       They accused Jesus of blasphemy and they were guilty of it.

What horrible choices…It was the power of the dark side, the power of sin running rampant, uncontrolled, unchecked, in their lives.

And where did it lead them? To total destruction in 70AD when Jerusalem was sacked, the Jews dispersed and the Temple destroyed by the Romans whom they sided with instead of God.

Know this…those who side with the world receive the same fate as the world…death and Hell.

Conclusion

In Pilates struggle for power we can learn a few very important lessons.

1. Pilate valued the wrong things.

          He valued the temporary: comfort and    power over the eternal: truth and godliness.

2. He feared the wrong things.

          He feared the Jewish religious leaders, he        feared Caesar. Instead of fearing the Lord.

3. He failed to pay attention to God’s warning.

          God graciously sent Pilates wife a dream         showing her that Jesus was innocent and that      he was to let him go.

4. He failed to stand on the side of truth.

          He had the opportunity to know objective        and absolute truth, instead he sided with subjective and situational truth.

Let’s learn from Pilate’s sin

·       value that which is eternal,

·       fear the Lord,

·       listen to God’s leading,

·       stand for objective and absolute truth

Pilate and the religious leaders all struggled with power and they compromised the truth. And once truth is compromised, it’s no longer truth.

Don’t make the same mistake. In a struggle for power, God will always win.