186. Luke 23:1-4 THE FIRST HEARING OF JESUS BEFORE THE ROMANS

Introduction:
	
    Perhaps you will remember that Jesus appeared before His
enemies for a total of six different hearings.  There were three
hearings before the Jews and three before the Romans.
	The three hearings before the Jews resulted in Jesus being
pronounced worthy of death on the grounds of blasphemy.  This
verdict was reached in the second hearing which took place before
daylight, but the official verdict could not be reached until the
third hearing which came at daylight.
	In our text today, the Jews bring Jesus to the Roman
authorities because under Roman law only the Romans could
sentence a man to death.

I.  Bringing Jesus to Pilate

    V. 1, "And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him
unto Pilate."  The term, whole multitude, implies that the
members of the Sanhedrin Council were not the only ones present
at this time.  Apparently, the many of the common citizens, who
had come to Jerusalem to observe the Passover, had risen early
and had been attracted by this early session of the Sanhedrin
Council which had met for the purpose of condemning Jesus as
worthy of death.  The great masses of people now joined the
council members as they carried Jesus to Pilate's judgment hall
where they hoped Jesus would be sentenced to death.
	Pilate's headquarters were actually in the city of Caesarea,
but during the times of the Jewish religious festivals, Pilate
would bring a garrison of soldiers and set up temporary
headquarters at Jerusalem just in case of trouble with the Jews.
So Pilate was right there in Jerusalem at this time.
	Luke says nothing about it, but the Jews would not enter into
the building which Pilate had made his temporary dwelling and
temporary headquarters.  To enter the dwelling of a Gentile would
have made them ceremonially unclean and unable to enter into the
temple grounds to continue the Passover celebration.  What they
did was to carry Jesus to the door of the building and send a
message inside asking to Pilate to come out to see them.  Pilate
had already had a great deal of trouble with the Jewish leaders
and this refusal to enter into his facilities was very insulting
to him.  This would not help his feelings toward them.  But at
any rate, he went outside to see what they wanted.

II.  Bringing charges against Jesus

    V. 2, "And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this
fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to
Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King."  You will
observe that the Jews said nothing about the charge of blasphemy
which they had used as the official grounds for pronouncing Him
to be worthy of death.  They knew that the Roman governor did not
worship the God of the Jews and he could care less that someone
might blaspheme the God of the Jews.  They knew that they would
not be able to get the death penalty on the grounds of blasphemy.
Therefore they presented three charges against Jesus which they
hoped would get the death penalty.
	The first charge was that Jesus was guilty of perverting the
nation.  They said that He had taught the people things which was
causing the people to be rebellious and causing trouble.  In
Matthew's account, Matthew just said that they accused Jesus of
stirring up trouble among the people.  The Jews knew that the
Romans were very much concerned when anybody would stir up strife
among the people that might cause trouble for the Romans.
	The second charge was that Jesus had forbidden the people to
pay taxes to the Roman government.  You can see that the Jews
were not in the least hesitant to tell a bald-face lie against
Jesus.  Just a few days earlier in the temple they had tried to
trick Him with a question about taxes.  They had asked Him if it
was lawful under the Mosaic law to pay taxes to the Roman Caesar.
Perhaps you will remember that He responded by asking for a
penny.  Then He asked, "Whose image is on the coin?"  They said,
"Caesar's."  He said, "Render, therefore, unto Caesar the things
that are Caesar's and render unto God the things that are God's."
Actually, Jesus publicly placed His blessings on the payment of
taxes to the Roman Caesar.  But the Jews told it the other way.
They said that He forbid the people to pay taxes to Caesar.
	The third charge which the Jews presented against Jesus
before Pilate was that Jesus claimed to be the Christ and, ,
therefore, He claims to be a king.   It was understood by the
Jews that Old Testament prophecies declare that the Christ would
be a king.  So they say that by claiming to be the Christ, He is
claiming to be a king.  They, mean, of course, that He claims to
be king of the Jews.

III.  Jesus questioned by Pilate

	John says that after hearing the charges against Jesus Pilate
carried Jesus inside the judgment hall for the questioning.  I
noticed something in studying for this message that I had never
noticed before.  Pilate never asked the Jewish leaders to present
one single witness against Jesus.  He did not even give them an
opportunity to present a witness.  He didn't trust them.  He
trusted the accused more than he did the accusers and so he
carried the accused into the judgment hall away from the Jews for
questioning.
    V. 3, "And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the
Jews?..."  You will note that Pilate totally ignored the first
charge against Jesus.  He ignored the charge of being a
trouble-maker.  Pilate was the governor of all Judea.  If Jesus
had been a trouble maker in his territory or in any of the
neighboring territories, Pilate would have known about it.
Especially if he were guilty of stirring up trouble throughout
the land as the Jewish leaders had said.  Pilate saw through
their false charge.  Jesus was innocent of that charge and he
knew it.
	Pilate also ignored the second charge about forbidding the
people to give tribute to Caesar.  If there Jesus had interfered
in any way with the collection of taxes, that would have been
reported immediately to Pilate.  Furthermore, if Jesus, Himself,
had refused to pay taxes to Caesar, Pilate would have soon known
about that.  Jesus was innocent of this charge and Pilate knew
it.  So he dismissed both of those charges.
	However, Pilate could not afford to dismiss the their charge
without at least making an investigation.  But he still preferred
to question the accused rather than ask the accusers in an effort
to get at the truth.  So he asked Jesus outright, "Art thou the
king of the Jews?"
	Pilate surely expected Jesus to plead innocent.  Jesus had no
capital city.  He had no throne.  He wore no crown.  He had no
army.  He collected no taxes.  He had no subjects and no kingdom
that Pilate knew anything about.  How could He be a king?  He
surely must have expected Jesus to say, "Why no, of course not.
I am no king."
	I think Pilate, himself, was surprised at the answer which
Jesus gave. (V. 3), "...And he answered him and said, Thou sayest
it."  The Amplified Version of the Bible translates the answer
this way, "It is just as you say, I am."  The New International
Version translates it, "Yes, it is as you say." The Phillips
Version translates it, "Yes, I am."  So in answer to Pilate's
question, "Are you the Christ, a king?" Jesus, in effect, said,
"You have said it right.  I am the king of the Jews."
	In John's record, Jesus went on to explain to Pilate.  He
said, "My kingdom is not now of this world."  That is, Jesus is
saying that He does not claim to be in competition to the Roman
government or any other earthly government.  The kingdom over
which Jesus was ruling at that time was not an earthly kingdom.
It was a spiritual kingdom.  The same is true today.  The time
will come when He will also rule over an earthly kingdom.  He
will not only rule over the nation of Israel, but He will rule
over the whole world.  Yet at that present time, He did not claim
to rule an earthly kingdom.

IV.  Pilate's verdict

    V. 4, "Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the
people..."  Note that Pilate is now talking to the Jewish
leaders.  This means that after questioning Jesus Pilate  has now
gone back outside the judgment hall where the Jewish leaders were
waiting.  Pilate had examined the accused and he is now ready to
render a verdict.
The verdict is: "...I find no fault in this man."  Pilate said,
"I find Him innocent on all counts.  I find Him not guilty of any
of the charges."  In effect, Pilate said, "This man is innocent
and can go free.  Since there is no guilt, there will be no
penalty.  He is free to go."

V.  A question in our own minds

	And that is the way it should have ended.  Pilate should have
set Jesus free.  He was innocent of the charges and should have
gone free.  But, of course, you know that this trial did not end
there.  You have already heard, as Paul Harvey would say, "the
rest of the story."  You know that the Jewish leaders would
prevail and that Jesus would be sentenced to death.
	Yet Pilate was right when he said, "I find no fault in this
man."  There was no fault to be found.  He was not guilty of any
crime against the government.  He was not guilty of any wrong
against the Jews.  He was not guilty of any sin against society.
He was not guilty of any sin against any fellow human being.  He
was not guilty of any sin against God.
	It was not really for any fault in Himself that Jesus would
go to the cross.  It was not for any sin of His own that He would
die.  Jesus would go to the cross for the sin of all mankind.
Other men were guilty of sin and Jesus would suffer the penalty
of their sin.
	Why?  Why would He, who is innocent, suffer for the guilty?
Let me tell you why.  All mankind has sinned against God.  Every
man, woman, boy and girl has sinned against God.  Those who are
rich and powerful have sinned against God.  Those who are poor
and beggarly have sinned against God.  Those who are greatly
intelligent have sinned against God.  Those who are lacking
somewhat in intelligence have sinned against God. Every person in
this whole wide world has sinned against God.  Every person in
this building has sinned.  I have sinned and you have sinned.
This is why Jesus went to the cross.  He went to the cross so
that He could suffer the penalty for the sin of the world and so
that everybody in the whole world would have opportunity to be
saved.
	God's plan of salvation is just this simple:  Whoever will
place His trust in Jesus Christ as his Savior will be saved.  In
Acts 16:31 the Apostle Paul said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved..."  In Romans 10:23 he said, "For
whosoever shall call on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved." In
John 3:16 Jesus, Himself, said, "For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have everlasting life."  In John 5:24 Jesus
said, "He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation."  In
Matthew 11:28 Jesus said, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are
heavy laden and I will give you rest."  In John 6:37 Jesus said,
"Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out."
	Let me point out to you that there is no doubt about our
guilt of sin.  There is no doubt that we are going to die.  There
is no doubt that we will face God in judgment.  There is no doubt
that Jesus loves us and died for us on the cross.  There is no
doubt that Jesus has saved others and that He can save us, too.
There is no doubt that those of us who have trusted the Lord as
our Savior have our eternal destiny all settled with God.  The
question is:  Will those who are still unsaved turn to Jesus and
trust in Him and be saved?"

Conclusion:

	Will you turn to Him and trust in Him today and be saved.
Will you come and call upon Him right now so that all doubt will
be erased?  Come now and trust in Jesus Christ to save your soul.