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Please turn with me in your Bibles 
to John chapter 18. John chapter 18. We're going 
to pick up with Jesus before Pontius Pilate and just to remind 
you of the context The last days of our Lord, before he died on 
the cross, there were two trials that he underwent before the 
Jewish Sanhedrin and before the Roman government. And the Jewish 
trial began with an informal examination by Annas and probably 
while the members of the Sanhedrin convened. The Sanhedrin then, 
that was the Jewish council, made a formal decision concerning 
Jesus' guilt and sent him to Pilate In the morning, the Roman 
trial began with the first examination by Pilate, which was followed 
by Herod's interrogation and then Jesus final appearance before 
Pilate. We take up John 18, beginning 
in verse twenty eight with Christ's first appearance before Pontius 
Pilate. Then they let Jesus from Caiaphas 
to the Praetorium and it was early morning. But they themselves 
did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, 
but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out to them 
and said, What accusation do you bring against this man? They 
answered and said to him, If he were not an evildoer, we would 
not have delivered him up to you. Then Pilate said to them, 
You take him and judge him according to your law. Therefore, the Jews 
said to him, It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death. 
that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, 
signifying by what death he would die. Then Pilate entered the 
Praetorium again, called Jesus and said to him, Are you the 
king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Are you speaking 
for yourself about this or did others tell you this concerning 
me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief 
priests have delivered you to me. What have you done? Jesus 
answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were 
of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be 
delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from 
here. Pilate therefore said to him, 
Are you a king then? Jesus answered, You say rightly 
that I am a king for this cause. I was born and for this cause 
I have come into the world. that I should bear witness to 
the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Pilate 
said to him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he 
went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no fault 
in him at all. But you have a custom that I 
should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore 
want me to release to you the king of the Jews? Then they all 
cried again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas 
was a robber. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, 
we come now to consider the Holy Scripture and we pray that your 
spirit would be at work in our hearts and in our minds. We pray 
that you would guide us and lead us into all truth and that you 
would just cause us afresh to appreciate the incarnation of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, God, that you sent 
him into this world, sinners to save. We thank you, God, that 
you made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might 
become the righteousness of God in him. We thank you for his 
role as prophet, priest and king. We thank you for his glory and 
for his power and his excellency and majesty. And we pray that 
his gospel would be proclaimed throughout the earth today and 
that a great multitude of sinners would bend the knee, would bow 
before this great one and confess him as Lord and Savior. And do 
forgive us now for all of our sins and cleanse us from all 
unrighteousness and help us God to receive your word and may 
it have a good effect in our lives. And we ask through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen. It's almost impossible 
at this time of the year not to think about the incarnation. And basically, what the incarnation 
means is the enfleshment or the coming of the second person of 
the triune God into this world, sinners to save. And the scripture 
places the incarnation in a larger context. And the scripture places 
the incarnation relative to the various offices of our Lord Jesus. For instance, The Lord Jesus 
fulfills the threefold office of prophet, priest, and king. 
We see in John 1.18 that no one has seen God at any time, but 
the Only Begotten has declared Him or has exegeted Him. Christ's incarnation are coming 
into this world. Being the Only Begotten One is 
for the grand purpose of explaining who God Most High is. We have 
seen in our studies on Wednesday night how the incarnation is 
intimately connected to the death or the priestly office of Christ. It was necessary that our high 
priest, that our mediator, identify with us and take on human nature 
and live for us and die for us and rise for us. So we see there 
the incarnation linked with the priestly office. But here in 
our reading, I hope that you picked up on this. The incarnation 
is intimately connected to the kingly office of Christ, or the 
incarnation is connected to the crown of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
as is made plain in this discourse concerning who Jesus is and what 
his kingdom is about. And I have a sneaking suspicion 
that the popularity of this holiday is often times seen in people 
who like Jesus as a little baby in a manger. You see, Jesus as 
a little baby in a manger is not a menacing person. In fact, 
he's easily controlled. He's at a position of great disadvantage. The Bible will not allow us to 
think like that. The Bible calls us to think concerning 
incarnation and crown, to think of him in his glory, to think 
of him in his power, to think of him in his majesty, to think 
of him again coming to judge the living and the dead, taking 
vengeance on those who know not God and on those who do not obey 
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. In short, It is much 
preferred among men of this world to see a little, insignificant, 
helpless babe in the womb than to see Jesus as King of Kings 
and Lord of Lords with a name written on His thigh. with that 
glorious hand of God upon him as our regent, as our king, as 
our Lord and Savior. Well, let us look at the passage 
before us very specifically. Many things we could consider. 
We could look at the Jews before Pilate, their gross hypocrisy, 
their disdain for the law, their divine role. They ultimately 
were being used by God in this capacity. But we'll pick up specifically 
with Christ. before pilot in verses thirty 
three to thirty eight will consider three particulars. First, the 
issue. Secondly, the clarification. 
And thirdly, the response of our Lord, where he teaches us 
something concerning his kingdom and his kingship. But notice, 
first of all, in verse thirty three, Then Pilate entered the 
Praetorium again, called Jesus and said to him, Are you the 
king of the Jews? Now, in order for the Jews to 
secure a death penalty, they had to make Jesus look like a 
political threat. They had to make him look like 
a threat to the Roman state. It wasn't enough for them just 
to have a theological dispute with Jesus. Pilate didn't care 
about that one bit. It didn't matter to Pilate one 
whit if this man, Jesus, had a theological difference with 
the leadership in Israel. Well, the leadership in Israel 
understood this, and in order to get him executed, they had 
to make the case against him in a more political and criminal 
nature. That's why in Luke 23, the first few verses, we see 
their false charge of him forbidding the paying of taxes to Caesar. 
That was a bad thing. Imagine today if a man advocated 
not paying your taxes to Revenue Canada. He'd get a knock on his 
door quicker than you could imagine. They want their tax money. These 
Jews were very intelligent in terms of bringing these false 
charges to bear upon Jesus. And so they say that he refused 
to pay taxes. They said that he was a threat 
to the political environment there in Rome. And so that's 
why Pilate has an interest. That's why Pilate is called to 
act on this particular case and to give a ruling. So he initiates 
it. Are you the king of the Jews? 
Now notice, secondly, Jesus clarifies. He says in verse 34, Are you 
speaking for yourself about this or did others tell you this concerning 
me? I think, in one aspect, Jesus 
here is showing his pro-law-ness, his affinity for the law. In 
other words, at a capital crime, you had to have witnesses. It wasn't enough for just one 
man to come and say, look, you've done this, or you're bad, or 
you're this. He wants to get something of his evidence. He 
wants to know something about where Pilate is coming from. 
What is it, Pilate, that you are looking for? Are you trying 
to find the facts for real? Or are you just serving as a 
puppet on the strings of unbelieving Jews? And I believe as well, 
he is going to press Pilate's conscience throughout this interchange. Some have seen in this interchange 
that Jesus is actually making an invitation to Pilate to lay 
down his rebellion and to believe the gospel concerning the Lord 
Jesus Christ, which we'll see here in just a moment. The question 
presses Pilate for a definition of turns. 35 indicates that pilot 
is a puppet. Pilate is not acting in a manner 
of objectivity. Pilate is a third-rate Roman 
governor in a very two-bit province called Judah in the first century. He is driven by mob mentality. He is a puppet on the strings, 
and he is simply trying to satisfy this angry mob of Jews. He says, 
am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief 
priests have delivered you to me. What have you done? A.W. Pink says, sent to be the governor 
of these Jews, they nevertheless compelled him to be their slave, 
the executioner of their wrath. So they are operating behind 
the scenes to try and get a death sentence for the Lord Jesus Christ. Because, as we know, they had 
a theological problem with Jesus. They didn't care about paying 
taxes to Caesar. They didn't care about Jesus 
being a political threat. They cared about Jesus claiming 
to be Jehovah himself. They cared about when Jesus said 
before Abraham was, I am. They cared about Jesus calling 
attention to himself and drawing all the crowds after him. Their 
problem with Jesus was theological in nature. They despised him. 
They hated him. They rejected him. And now they 
wanted to deliver him up so that he would die on the cross. Now, 
notice, thirdly, the response. Christ will answer Pilate's question. But it is very important for 
us to observe how Jesus answers Pilate's question. His kingdom 
is not a political threat to the existing Roman Empire. Now, 
we know ultimately it was a threat as the Roman Empire would fall, 
as all empires will ultimately fall. But in that situation, 
it wasn't as if Jesus was calling upon his disciples to go to the 
armory to get guns, to get knives, to put on their bandoleros, to 
put on their flak jackets and their helmets and assault the 
Roman Empire. It wasn't a political threat 
that way. His kingdom does not demand for 
the immediate overthrow of the Roman Empire. Christ is explaining 
the pilot that his kingdom threatens the theological order of Judaism. not the political order of Rome. 
And notice in verse 36 and verse 37, this is where we'll spend 
our time this morning. Jesus answers first negatively 
what his kingdom is not. And then he answers secondly, 
positively what his kingdom is. But essentially what I think 
he is saying is something about the kingdom itself and something 
about his nature as the king. So let us look at the character 
of this kingdom. Verse 36, Jesus answered, My 
kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, 
my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to 
the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here. The first thing 
that he affirms is its existence. He has a kingdom. Men fail to 
recognize this at times, but it does not change or alter the 
fact Jesus has a kingdom. He speaks of my kingdom, doesn't 
he? He speaks of divine sovereignty. He speaks of his majesty. He 
speaks of his glory. My kingdom, he says. I want to cause us to stop for 
a moment. I'm always struck with that account 
in Luke's gospel. The birth scene of Jesus, or 
prior to the birth, when Jesus is in the womb and Elizabeth 
and Mary come together. What does Elizabeth say to Mary? 
How is it that the mother of my Lord come to visit me? He was Lord in the womb. It wasn't 
as if Jesus got this kingdom from the Jews. It wasn't as if 
he got this kingdom from sinners who voted him into office. Jesus 
has a kingdom. It was given unto him by his 
father. He is not like earthly kings. He cannot be impeached. He cannot 
be taken off of his throne. He cannot be voted out of office. 
I mean, praise God in some sense, brethren, that in the democracies 
with quotes around them that we live in, there are term limits. Praise God that a bad leader 
can get out after four years or eight years. I mean, you look 
at the history of Israel and the monarchy. You could get an 
ungodly Ahab to reign for 55 years. The reality is, in our situation, 
a bad guy could be out in four to eight years. A good guy has 
to as well be out in four to eight years. Jesus has a kingdom. It's not voted in. We ought to 
just shy against or be against that whole idea. Make Jesus king 
in your life. Make Jesus Lord in your life. 
Jesus is king. Jesus is Lord, whether you recognize 
it or not. I'm often struck with the reality 
of what Pilate was looking upon at this particular time. Jesus 
had not yet been scourged. He would undergo two scourges. 
The second would be most severe, brethren, that would be most 
harmful. But at this point, he had been 
struck by an officer. He had been up all night. He 
had been battling in the Garden of Gethsemane with the wrath 
and fury of Almighty God. What are what Pastor Cam read 
at the outset of worship? When this takes a toll on a man, 
in fact, in Luke's gospel, it says that blood came out of his 
pores as he was considering drinking the very wrath of God himself. 
So this king that is standing there doesn't have a big hat 
on. He hasn't got his robe on. He doesn't have a big scepter 
in his hand. But for Jesus, that doesn't make a difference. He 
is King. I think of Luke 23 as well. Remember that thief on 
the cross? He said, Lord, remember me when 
you come into your kingdom. That's great faith expressed 
there. Again, looking through the blood, 
looking through the tortured one, looking through the fact 
that he's hanging on a cross as an insurrectionist and as 
a threat to the Roman Empire. This thief on the cross with 
the eye of faith says, Lord, first of all, and he says, remember 
me when you come into your kingdom. Some of you in this room who 
have not closed with Christ fail to remember that he is the king. 
fail to reckon with the fact that this universe is his, and 
he has crown rights over you, and he has called you to submit 
to him. You need to get this in your 
mind that he is not a helpless babe in a in a little manger, 
but he rules and he reigns at the right hand of God, most high, 
where he must reign till all of his enemies are made his footstool. He highlights its existence. 
He highlights its origin. Secondly, notice in verse thirty 
six, my kingdom is not of this world. He does not mean it doesn't 
include this world. The earth is the Lord's in the 
fullness thereof. What does Jesus say prior to 
his ascension on high? He says all authority in heaven 
and on earth has been given to me. What does Paul say in Ephesians 
1, that at the Ascension, when Jesus sat down at the right hand 
of God Most High, he was given dominion over every name that 
is named, both in this age and the age which is to come. When 
he says, my kingdom is not of this world, he does not mean 
that it doesn't include this world. He means it doesn't originate 
with this world. He's not voted in. He's not appointed. He didn't mess up like Pilate 
and therefore get sent to Judah. My kingdom does not originate 
from man. I am not an elected official. 
I am not one you can vote out of existence. I am not one you 
can depose. I am not one that you can remove. J.C. Ryle says that the idea 
here means belonging to, dependent upon, springing from. His kingdom is not like an earthly 
one and is therefore not a threat to Rome. My kingdom, he says, 
is not of this world. And Christians often times say, 
well, then it has nothing to do with this world. Wrong. It 
has everything to do with this world. What does Jesus call us 
to do? To shine his light in a crooked 
and perverse generation, holding forth the word of truth. Why? So that we may impact our world. 
What does Jesus say that we are supposed to do but be soft and 
to be light? We're to be godly men and godly 
women. We're to be godly husbands and 
godly fathers. We're to be godly workers and 
godly whatevers. We're to be a godly citizen. 
That's how Christ exercises his rule over this world. So don't take from this. Well, 
Jesus' kingdom has nothing to do with this world. We'll just 
go set up a Protestant monastery and we'll chant all day long 
and we'll read Martin Luther books and John Calvin because 
we are Protestants. Martin Luther and John Calvin 
would say, don't do that. Go out there and be godly, go 
out there and be holy. His kingdom does not originate 
from the world, but his kingdom certainly involves and includes 
the world. Why he is Lord of this kingdom 
could tell us to pray that we are to pray to God that his will 
be done on earth as it is in heaven. This statement is not 
a statement of Jesus saying I don't care about this world one bit. 
No, he's saying I don't get my authority. I don't get my power. 
I don't get my position from this world. I have government 
over it. I have supremacy and then notice 
he speaks of its servants. Verse 36. If my kingdom were 
of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be 
delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from 
here. He is answering yes to pilots 
question, but is defining the terms of his kingdom to show 
that it does not conflict with Rome in the political arena. He's in essence saying, look, 
if I wanted it to be the case, my servants would be here right 
now. What does he say later to Pilate? He says, you would have 
no authority over me unless it had been given to you from heaven. 
Pilate is not just, dare I say it, a puppet of the Jews. He 
is a puppet of God. And as you work through this 
narrative, you've got the governor, you've got the judge presiding 
over Jesus. What's really happening in this 
situation? It's Jesus presiding over this 
event. It's akin to what we see in the 
martyrdom of Stephen. Have you ever noticed that Jesus 
is standing when Stephen is filled with disparity and he looks into 
heaven? He sees the glory of God and Jesus is standing at 
his right hand. Why is he standing? The book 
of Hebrews makes it very clear that after he finished his priestly 
role, he sat down to show that it is indeed finished. I don't 
think he's standing when Stephen looks up to heaven, undoes that 
reality. What I think it shows is that 
Jesus is the judge presiding over this event. Jesus is watching 
the enmity poured out on Stephen, and Jesus is showing his willingness 
to receive Stephen when this whole affair is over with. Christ 
is not at a position of disadvantage here. Christ is in absolute control 
of this whole scenario. Remember, Christ said, I lay 
my life down willingly. Christ is king. And that brings 
us to consider, secondly, the character of the king. Notice in verse thirty seven, 
Pilate therefore said to him, Are you a king then? Jesus answered, 
You say rightly that I am a king for this cause. I was born and 
for this cause I have come into the world that I should bear 
witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth 
hears my voice. The first thing we've already 
noted is his humble appearance. This is one of the things that 
the prophet Zechariah tells us. In fact, the whole restoration 
period shows something of the humility of Christ. Jesus didn't come to the palace, 
he came to the stable. Jesus didn't come in angelic 
garb, he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He didn't come 
just dictating orders. He came as a man of sorrows and 
acquainted with grief. Pilate is looking upon a king 
that really takes faith to see. I mean, some may be hearing this 
and say, well, he's a pretty unimpressive king. If he has 
these servants, if he could have got out of this, if he could 
have snapped his finger and been done with pilot, he didn't do 
it. Well, that just shows that he isn't the real deal. No contrast. It shows his glory. It shows 
his beauty. It shows his majesty. It shows 
his excellency. It shows his lovingness. It shows 
his willingness to identify with the creatures he came to save. 
I just praise God for this narrative. I praise God that Jesus didn't 
call down angels to destroy this wretched Pilate or these wretched, 
wretched, unbelieving Jews. I praise God as our brother is 
pointing out the Gethsemane narrative. He's talking about Jesus going 
through that. Do you know that we had to have 
one go through that? God demands perfection. We don't 
get that. We get the idea that God just 
grades on a curve. Something I've learned recently. I should have learned it probably 
a long time ago. When I was a kid, they graded 90 to 100% was an 
A. 80 to 89 was a B. 70 to 79 was a C. 60 to 69 was a D. Maybe that was just uniquely 
American. I don't know. You know what's happened? An 
A now is from 86. to ninety-nine. A B now is from 
seventy-six to eighty-nine. We've lowered it. It was too 
hard before. It was too difficult. So what 
do we do? We manipulate it. We manipulate 
the system. Lo and behold, when it comes 
to God, well, you know, I haven't done really bad things. I haven't 
committed adultery. I haven't murdered. I haven't 
lied. I haven't cheated. I haven't stolen. You know, I'm 
a pretty good guy. God will certainly grade on the 
curve, won't he? He will not. You hear me today, 
he will not grade on a curve. God demands perfection. God demands 
perfection. There's not even a 90 to a 99 
or 90 to 100 being an A. He demands 100 in everything. You say, that's distressing. 
No, that's Bible. That's who God is. He is holy. He is righteous. The scripture 
says his eye is too pure to look upon evil. And that sets the 
stage for what we like to call the gospel or the good news, 
because while we fail miserably, While we are nowhere near that 
100%, this Lord Jesus, in his 33 years and in his substitutionary 
death, satisfied all of the righteous requirements of God. And the 
scripture says, whoever looks to him in faith, lives. Isn't that beautiful? I think you must first realize 
the holy God with whom you have to do. to appreciate the glorious 
gospel that he has initiated to save miserable sinners like 
us. Jesus says my kingdom, he says 
in verse thirty seven, you say rightly that I am a king, his 
humble appearance, but as well his glorious person. We are dealing 
with a unique person in Jesus Christ. We are dealing with the 
God man. We're dealing with something 
that had never happened in the history of the world. John is 
the only time John refers to the birth of Jesus is here in 
John 18 at verse 37 when Jesus says for this cause I was born. 
But this isn't the first time that John refers to the incarnation. In John one one, he sets forth 
Jesus essential glory as God. He said in the beginning was 
the word and the word was with God and the word was God. That's who we're dealing with. 
And then by the time he gets to chapter one, verse 14, he 
makes this statement concerning the Lord Jesus with reference 
to the incarnation and the word became flesh. The shift is very 
important that he always was God in time. He became flesh, 
veiled in flesh. The Godhead see hail the incarnate 
deity, pleased as man with men to dwell. Jesus are Emmanuel. It says the word became flesh 
and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the 
only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. He was born to be a king. He was incarnate to assume this 
office. He came into this world, sinners 
to save, and he does so perfectly. And then notice, with reference 
to this statement, when he says, I was born for this cause, I 
was born. You know, just pointing out a 
day, which incidentally wasn't December 25th. so that we could 
eat jiggy pudding or drink eggnog and have warm fuzzy thoughts 
around our bushes. When he says, for this cause 
I was born, he's speaking in a redemptive historical context. 
What's Galatians 4, verse 8? In the fullness of the times, 
God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 
to redeem those who were under the law. This wasn't a haphazard 
event. This wasn't an accident. This 
wasn't just, wow, that's interesting. No, this was orchestrated by 
God Most High for the salvation of sinners. This didn't just 
come to pass. It wasn't Pilate's unlucky day. 
It wasn't just because the Jews had an axe to grind with a theological 
difference with a man. No, this was all orchestrated. 
This is all finds itself in the decree of God. This is all attached 
to sovereignty. This is all the demonstration 
and the execution of God's most glorious decree. Our salvation, 
brethren, wasn't an afterthought in the mind of God. I think that 
does something for a Christian, I think it encourages him. Why do we oppose abortion? Yes, 
it's a heinous crime against humanity, but it's first and 
foremost a crime against God. That baby is is executed or murdered, 
it is the image of God in that baby. We must argue pro-life from a 
theological perspective. As Norris says, it's God first, 
baby second, votes third. Get your theology right. There is dignity in being an 
image bearer of God. I think there's dignity in not 
only being an image bearer, but having been redeemed according 
to plan. It wasn't because you made a 
good decision one Sunday afternoon. It wasn't ultimately because 
your mother pleaded with you. It was because God most high 
from before the foundation of the world chose sinners. God 
took those sinners and he gave them to his only begotten son. 
And that only begotten son came into this world. He was born. 
He lived. He died. He rose again so that 
those sinners could have everlasting life. If that doesn't put a smile 
on your face, you need to believe the gospel for the first time. 
You're not an afterthought. You're not a tack on. You're 
not a second class citizen. You know, especially in the Christian 
church, sometimes I've seen this with my own eyes, a child will 
be reared in a Christian home and in an imperceptible way will 
believe the gospel. And then he meets somebody that 
was just a wretch and lived out in the world and was wicked and 
ungodly and had some priceless conversion experience. And then 
the child that was with him at home begins to doubt, begins 
to wonder and begins to think, maybe mine wasn't real. The issue 
is, are you believing the gospel? The same power in causing your 
little child self to come imperceptibly to faith in Christ is the same 
power that pulls prodigals out of pit pens. That anybody stands in the presence 
of God is due not to themselves, but to the decree. Of a gracious 
God who is orchestrating all things for the salvation of a 
great multitude, which no man can number. Be encouraged that 
he came in fulfillment of his father's decree. Fourth observation 
on the character of the king. Notice his method of conquest. I tried to sound as military 
as I could. His method of conquest. Right. What do we think of in 
our understanding of a method of conquest? Great big fighters, 
great big bombers. I used to work at the Northrop 
Grumman plant where they built the B-2 bomber. When I think 
of the method of conquest, I think of that. Flying into enemy land 
and dropping a humongous payload on the enemy. We oftentimes associate 
kings with their military power and their might and their armament. 
What does Jesus say that he is armed with? Truth. Truth for this cause, I was born 
and for this cause, I have come into the world that I should 
bear witness to the truth. Why do you get expositional preaching 
here and a lot of doctrine? Because our king demands it. Why do we encourage you to read 
your Bibles because the king demands it? How are you going 
to exercise any impact in this world? Because you're good? Because 
you're winsome? Because you have good breath 
all the time? And you're always able to weave together an argument 
and make sinners see the beauty of your way? It's the truth. Our anti-intellectual, anti-doctrinal 
age needs to look at what our king has to say. For this cause, 
I was born. And for this cause, I have come 
into the world that every or that I should bear witness to 
the truth. He bears witness. John one, one 
of fourteen to eighteen. John three. John four. John five. John eight. John fourteen. Jesus 
says, I am the way, the truth and the life. He doesn't say 
I am the way and the experience. I am the way in the warm, fuzzy 
feelings. I am the way in a batch of eggnog. I am the way, the 
truth and the life. C. H. said, Our Lord, in effect, 
tells us that truth is the preeminent characteristic of his kingdom 
and that his royal power over men's hearts is through the truth. As Watts says in that blessed 
hymn, he rules the world with truth and grace and makes the 
nations prove the glory of his righteousness. When you see Jesus 
coming on that white horse in Revelation 19, what's proceeding 
from his mouth? The sword, which is identified 
as his word. The truth is most important with 
reference to this kingdom. So you don't get into this kingdom 
by being a good guy. You don't get into this kingdom 
because you have a lot of money. You don't enter into this kingdom 
because you've arrived. You enter into this kingdom because 
God Most High reveals truth to you. And that truth centers on 
the person and work of the Lord Jesus or what we call the gospel. Just read something. I meant 
to bring it in the pulpit so I could read it. It's a bit of 
an extended quote by J. Gresham Machen. He wrote in the 
1920s in America. He was lamenting the fact that 
civil liberties were being stripped away. Imagine if he were living 
today. He would have thought that would 
be a garden utopia, a paradise on earth, as opposed to what's 
going on today. But you know what he said? The 
great defender, the great protector, the great enactor of civil liberty 
is the doctrine of justification by faith. I read that and I said, 
praise God, because my heart beats that same way. What we 
need today is a clear preaching of the truth. That's what we 
need. He linked it to the Reformation. 
What happened when a few men armed with the truth of God who 
had studied the original languages began to preach? What did God 
do? He revolutionized Western civilization. Why? Justification by faith alone. The way we advance the kingdom 
is through truth. That's why it's so important 
that you read your Bible. That you pray. It's so important 
that you understand that. Not just to advance the kingdom. 
Advance it in your own heart. So you can grow in the grace 
and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, that I should bear 
witness to the truth. Notice, he says, everyone who 
is of the truth hears my voice. That's his loyal subjects. Lucy 
doesn't say everyone who is of the truth, everyone who is of 
the truth is the most obedient, the most loyal, the most excellent. 
They hear my voice. I do what I say. In the dispute, they don't debate, 
they don't argue, they don't redefine, they don't bring down 
the curve. They say, yes, Lord. Yes, command 
what you will and give the grace for me to obey it. That's his 
loyal subjects. That promotes this question from 
Pilate. What is truth? Commentators debate, people debate, 
people wonder what it is he was saying. How did he say it? Was 
it a snicker? Was it an earnest, what is truth? Was it ironic? Well, the way that things flesh 
out seem to indicate that he really wasn't concerned with 
what is truth. I think there's definitely something 
tugging on him. I mean, he goes out and announces 
the innocence of Jesus Christ, which he does three times, by 
the way. I've always thought he sounded 
like one of those Seraphim in Isaiah 6, not in character, but 
at least in confession. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord 
of hosts. The whole earth is full of his 
glory. Pilate makes a threefold confession of the innocence of 
Jesus Christ. But because he was who he was, 
he's submitted to the Jewish mob and he delivers Jesus up 
to be crucified. First he thinks he'll try this 
rule that at the Passover we can release a criminal. He probably 
thought, you know, Jesus is a pretty good guy. If I go out and say 
that he was innocent, perhaps the Jews will exercise their 
right to have him free. But all it does is demonstrate 
and highlight the hatred of these Jews for the Lord Jesus. When 
they said, give us Barabbas and hang Christ on the cross. But 
he says, what is truth? What is it? It's indicative that 
he didn't hear because everybody that is of the truth hears the 
voice of Jesus Christ. And that's where we need to come 
now in our own consideration. Yes, we learned something of 
Christ's kingdom in this passage. We could look elsewhere in the 
Bible and learn that it's a very gracious kingdom. In other words, 
we enter in by grace. We don't enter in because we 
have performed well. I love the statement Colossians 
113. It says he transferred us from the dominion of darkness 
into the kingdom of the son of his love. What a great transference 
that is. That is a glorious transference. His kingdom is spiritual. It 
definitely has physical effects. But it's spiritual. It is comprehensive, 
Matthew 28, Ephesians 1 already alluded to, tell us something 
in the nature of Christ's kingdom. It is comprehensive. There is 
not one square inch that is not under the sovereignty of our 
Lord Jesus. And from the scripture, we know 
that it is eternal. Isaiah 9, 7 prophesied this. It is highlighted and confirmed 
in Luke chapter 1, verses 31 to 34. Luke 1, 31. And behold, you will conceive 
in your womb and bring forth the son and shall call his name 
Jesus. He will be great and will be 
called the son of the highest. And the Lord God will give him 
the throne of his father David. You see, incarnation leads to 
crown. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and 
of his kingdom. There will be no end. You see, 
he was born to occupy a specific place on David's throne. God 
made a covenant promise in second Samuel seven and nothing would 
stop it. There would be one coming from 
the line of David who would assume that crown throne and he would 
rule and reign over the house of Israel forever and ever and 
ever world without end. Amen. So we learn something about 
that kingdom. We learned something in this 
passage about the incarnation. You should learn something. People 
have it on their minds. Again, you can try as hard as 
you want. Spurgeon was not a big fan of this particular time of 
the year. They always preached on it, as far as I can tell. 
Why? Because it's impossible to sort of get it out of your 
head. You're going to have people talk to you. You're going to 
have people ask you. What do you tell them? You tell 
them it's a great time of the year so we can feel good and 
feel warm. You might tell them the truth. You know, Jesus really 
wasn't born on December 25th. But since the subject has come 
up, let's talk about the incarnation. Let's talk about Jesus as a priest. 
Let's talk about Jesus as a prophet. Let's talk about Jesus as a king. 
Let's talk about how glorious and wondrous he is. But as I 
said before, some have seen here that Christ was inviting Pilate 
to hear his voice and become one of his servants. Jesus is 
giving this man information. Jesus isn't yelling at him. Jesus 
isn't saying, look, just get away from me. I'm right. Those 
Jews are wrong. And I just got to go through with this. He's 
talking to him. He's giving him information. What's the implication? Everyone was of the truth. Here's 
my voice. What if Pilate would have said, I hear. I believe. 
He'd be saved. That didn't happen. It's kind 
of ironic. Pilate distances himself from 
the Jews, doesn't he? He does. I'm not a Jew. Your 
own leaders, the chief priests, they brought you here, they delivered 
you up. But interestingly enough, in 
his rejection of Jesus, he identifies with the Jews. Doesn't he? Saying no to Christ puts him 
in the enemy camp. Now all that to say this, where 
are you on this fine Sunday morning? Do you hear his voice? Have you believed his voice? Are you in the camp with unbelieving 
Jews and Pilate? If you are, let me call upon 
you today to believe the gospel. You see, ultimately, what these 
unbelieving Jews and Pilate got was an eternity in hell. This 
is not real popular today. We don't like to think about 
punishment for sin. We don't like to think about 
penalty. The same way we like to alternate A's and B's and 
C's and D's, or mess with that, is the same way we like to mess 
with what happens to when we die. We're very quick and very 
willing to entertain doctrines of reincarnation or of annihilation. We're very quick to entertain 
the idea of a dreamless sleep at the end of my debauched and 
wicked life. Jesus Christ was very clear on this subject, though. 
He says, don't fear those who can kill the body, but when they're 
done, have nothing else to do. But rather, I tell you whom you 
ought to fear. Fear him who can kill both body and soul in hell. 
And so today, you may not have gotten the kingdom. You may not 
have gotten the king. You may not have understood a lot of 
the theological jargon. But I want you to get this. What 
you do today with Jesus Christ affects where you will go when 
you die. You might say, well, I got next 
week, or I got next month, or I got two years from now. I'm 
young. Religion is for old people. When 
I get old, then I'll make my peace with God. That is fool's 
logic. There was a certain rich man 
that Jesus spoke of in the Bible who thought like that. He was 
a very successful man. His ground yielded plentifully. 
That means he had a lot of stuff. In fact, his problem was that 
he didn't have a place to put his stuff. You kind of see that 
today. We've got to build big garages. 
Why? To put more stuff. What do we use our garages for? 
Stuff. What do we use closets for? Stuff. 
We're all about stuff. This time of the year comes around, 
we want more stuff. There was a guy just saying that 
in Luke 12. He wanted stuff. He scratched his head. He wondered 
about his problem. He said, I know what I'll do. I'll tear down 
those old barns. I'll put up new barns. I'll fill it up with 
all my stuff. I'll sit back. I'll get a beverage. 
And I'll say, soul, take thine ease. You've got many goods laid 
up for many years. Relax. Chill. Enjoy. God says to him, thou fool, your 
soul is required of you tonight. Then whose stuff will all this 
be? So we're good at planning out 
the details of our future existence, giving no concern whatsoever 
to the reality that any one of us could die today. Again, we 
don't like to think about this. And it's true. As Edward said 
in that famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, 
there are innumerable ways of wicked men going out of this 
world. innumerable. You see the guy 
that, you know, works out all the time and he only eats what's 
right and he's bicep curls and he's benching and he's, he's 
this buff guy. What happens? He gets hit by 
a truck. You can take, and I'm not suggesting you shouldn't. 
Eat right. Have a balanced diet. Get plenty 
of rest. The Bible envisages that you 
should do these things as part of the sixth commandment. Don't 
murder. Don't kill yourself. Get sleep. Exercise. Eat right. Have positive influences in your 
life. Do the right things. But never 
think for a moment that because you've done that, you have another 
80 years. James puts it this way. You don't 
know what your life is. You're a vapor. Next time your 
mother's heat up a pot of water for tea or for hot chocolate, 
you watch that steam that comes out of the end there. That's 
what James says your life is. We think 80 years and it's like, 
man, that's an amazing long time. Moses, the man of God and the 
Psalter said, you know, you might live 70 earth by reason of strength, 
80 years. But then you fly away. Where are you going to fly to? 
You're going to be like pilot and leave from here? No, what 
is truth? Who cares? Who cares? Well, I know that 
many of the brethren in this church care. Families, mothers and fathers 
care. Husbands and wives care. See, the goal here, the desire 
here is that you would stop siding with Pilate and with these unbelieving 
Jews and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. Don't wait till 
tomorrow. It may not come. Don't wait till 
next week. It always kind of bothers me, 
brethren, that after a sermon, we just immediately start with 
all the talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. I'm not against 
talk, talk, talk. This is the house of the living 
God. And if the spirit of God is actually working on the heart 
of the sinner here, I want that to stick. I mean, humanly speaking, 
I know the spirit gets his man. The spirit is the hound of heaven. 
He will not come up short. Man, there's something intrinsically 
wrong with hearing or trafficking in things of eternity, and then 
immediately running and saying, what do we have for lunch? Your 
lunch doesn't matter. Your soul matters. Tomorrow doesn't matter. Right 
now matters. You might think, oh, he's just 
being engaged in some literary effect. Do you know that Paul 
does this? Today, now is the acceptable time. Today is the 
day of salvation. You believe the gospel and you 
will be saved. Isn't that a beautiful thought? It's not what your hands do. 
It's not what works you engage in. It's not what you perform. It's who you look to in faith. All the saving efficacy and ability 
is in Jesus. Faith is a vessel to receive 
that work. Faith is a blessed gift from 
God, an instrument to attach us savingly to Jesus. Jesus is 
the Savior. And he calls to men and women 
and boys and girls. And he says, believe the gospel 
and you will be saved. That's good news. That's what 
we should think about each and every day. If our minds are drawn 
to the incarnation, let it not be so that we can get gifts, 
but let it be so that we can see the gift that God sent, that 
our minds would be saturated with John 3 16. God so loved 
the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes 
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. There's 
no greater blessing. And to know that your sins are 
covered, that your sins are gone, that your sins have been taken 
by the strong arm of God and cast into the depths of the sea. 
I've got to tell you, brethren, sometimes that's the only thing 
that keeps me going, is Micah 7. He will take our 
sins and cast them into the depths of the sea. See, if He cast them 
into the shallow part, they'd keep coming up. They'd keep haunting 
us. They'd keep pointing their fingers 
at us. Let's both say in Romans 8, who is He who condemns? It 
is Christ who died. Reverend, you take it to the 
cross. You take that shame and that 
guilt to the cross. And He cleanses. He atones. He covers. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your 
word, and we thank you for our Lord Jesus, and we thank you 
that he is our prophet, our priest, and our king. We just pray, our 
God and Father, that this day he would exercise his royal reign 
over many, many hearts. We don't look to sinners to think 
good thoughts. We don't look to sinners to make 
up their minds. We look to sovereign grace and 
sovereign power to make sinners willing in the day of his power. 
And we pray that wherever this gospel is preached today, a multitude 
would believe, a multitude would be saved, and a multitude would 
praise your great and your holy name. And I pray for those of 
us in this room who are Christians, those who have believed the gospel, 
help us to continue to look to it. Help us to live each and 
every day looking to the Son of God who loved us and who gave 
himself for us. God, help us never to rely upon 
our own resources or to think that we have it figured out. 
But help us to remember that we are broken, we are humbled, 
we are contrite, we are lowly under a gracious and a sovereign 
God. And I pray that you would sustain us and encourage our 
faith and build us up and just cause us to follow the Lamb. 
And we pray in Jesus most holy name. Amen.