John Chapter 18:33-40

the world says well there's no such thing as absolute truth yes there is this book is filled with absolutes it tells us in no uncertain terms that jesus is the only way to heaven it says that and whether you agree with that is up to you but that is what the bible says so if you're saying you're following jesus you can't say well lots of lots of ways you know lead to jesus no no that's not that's not what it says so jesus is the only way well that's narrow-minded no it's not narrow-minded that's reality and you can think well if i jump off the building i think i'm going to go sideways no you're not you can believe that all the way down but when you get to the bottom when you get to the end of your path there will be a harsh reality that you didn't go left you didn't go right you fell straight down why because there's only one way really to the ground and that's straight down well guess what there's one way down there's one way up welcome to cross the bridge with david mcgee david is a senior pastor of the bridge in kernersville north carolina and when it comes to reality whether you or someone else believes the truth or not it doesn't change what the truth is today pastor david explains the truth as he continues in the gospel of john chapter 18 now here's david mcgee with part two of his teaching the trial turn with me to john chapter 18 verse 33 says then pala entered the praetorium again called jesus and said to him are you the king of the jews it reminds me of isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 and 7 he says for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called wonderful counselor mighty god everlasting father prince of peace and of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end upon the throne of david and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever the zeal of the lord of hosts will perform this of course we refer to those verses oftentimes at christmas the reality of this is that if you're a follower of jesus you're a christian believer you need to understand that our enemy is on borrowed time see a couple of transactions happened that you need to be aware of in the garden we had mankind had the title deed to the earth we gave that to the enemy the prince of this world but he's kind of like he doesn't own the world he's just kind of renting if you will now some people don't understand this but see if you remember he's called the prince of this world and if you remember what in the transaction with jesus that the devil said look i'll give you all this and jesus rebuked him with scripture but that's what jesus didn't say jesus didn't say well it's not yours to give he didn't fight with him about that but again he is on borrowed time at some point our messiah the savior of the world walks up to him and tears that deed out of his hand and says this is mine i bought it and that's something we can look forward to that's something we can look forward to why is jesus waiting to do that he's waiting on us he's waiting on us to tell people he's waiting on other people to hear he's waiting on other people to respond in his love for us jesus in verse 34 jesus answered me are you speaking for yourself about this or did others tell you this concerning me pollock answered and said am i a jew your own nation and the chief priest have delivered you to me what have you done that's quite the indictment isn't it your own nation your own people it was the spiritual leaders of the day that were doing this again i don't early on in my life i might have looked back on that no i can't believe they did that but you know what i look around today and see the spiritual landscape and see a lot of spiritual leaders and church leaders doing similar things taking jesus out and driving people away from jesus verse 36 jesus answered said 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 this is an interesting statement isn't it jesus is answering the question but he's all saying also saying you know what i'm not here to throw rome out of israel and that's important because one of the accusations was an act of sedition that he was trying to lead a rebellion against rome now where does let me ask you a question where does jesus rule today well he's king of kings and he's lord of lords and again at some point in the future we'll know that he will rule this earth he will rule over the people but right now where does he presently rule in our hearts in our hearts if you will he is the king of hearts he does the king of hearts he rules in my heart and he rules in your heart and hopefully he does rule in your heart now i know you probably have the same thing exchange every day there's parts of your day where you find yourself mistakenly back on the throne of your life trying to run your life trying to make the decisions and that's a place that only god is supposed to have in our hearts and so at that point we have to say no no no no i'm not my own anymore i've been bought with the price and the lord should rule over my heart and that's that's the working out of our faith and understand when you find yourself and your flesh on the throne i don't know what your exchange is but you know mine is not like oh my goodness i've gotten my flesh on the throne please step down off of the throne flesh and the flesh go oh i'm sorry i was in the wrong seat you know it's not the exchange it's kicking and screaming as we deny ourselves pick up a cross and follow jesus that's what we're supposed to be doing why because god jesus is the king of hearts who's ruling in our heart we should be following him in verse 37 pilot therefore said to him are you a king then and jesus answered you say rightly that i am a king you you got it for this cause i was born and for this cause i've come into the world that i should bear witness to the truth everyone who is of the truth hears my voice jesus is at peace do you see this in this exchange jesus is not freaked out he's not bowing down to pilot if you will there's no fear of man in him why because there's an assurance that god has him right where he's supposed to be at that moment and when you can walk in that assurance friends that fear of man begins to play a second fiddle and this peace and self-control you got to know this was this was intriguing pilot i'm sure in these other discussions with other men at other times they've been like oh i'm so sorry i'll do anything please forgive me and jesus was like yeah i am a king and and that had to catch pilot's ear verse 38 pilot 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 wow this verse is packed with stuff in it pilot is so close yet so far history suggests and records that perhaps his wife was a believer pilot later lost his job and committed suicide back in europe and he's so close and he's saying what is truth boy another question today what is truth you understand the world is thinking you can't know truth you can't know absolutes but see we're very different we say we can know absolutes and here in this book is contained absolute truth and that stands in in stark contrast to the world but is it enough just to know the truth is it enough just to have a bible in your house on your lap in your bathroom in your den on your bookshelves is that enough most of us know no that's not it that's not enough it's not even enough to know it now here's the thing i can make sure that you learn this book i can make sure if you're coming here that you're learning biblical truths but the decisions i can't make for you are that you begin to apply those biblical truths i can encourage you along that discipleship track but i can't make you come i can't make you get these things second timothy chapter three verse seven says always learning and never able to come and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth the life lesson here is we should not only be engaged in bible study but in bible action we should not only be engaged in bible study but in bible action you see as i sit in here and i communicate these truths and perhaps you even jot them down begin to apply these truths that's what our small groups are about we don't do you know in our small groups we don't do like men are from mars and women are from venus or you know anything like that we actually take the sunday morning teaching and help make application with discussion questions something we spent a lot of time a lot of prayer over why to help you guys to apply biblical truth and begin doing it see it's not just knowing the truth but doing the truth and again you know the church has been accused of hypocrisy why because they've known the truth but haven't done the truth see i want you and that's one of the reasons i talk about serving a lot here i want you to have an active faith i want you to be active in your faith here and i understand there's some people that are active in their faith here i understand there's some people that aren't serving they're not giving and and some of those people even come every sunday even occasionally a thursday night but you know what they're not a part of what's going on it's more like they visit the church every sunday because they're really not engaged my heart is that you get engaged why because then you're doing the bible not just hearing about it and there's a wonderful thing that happens as you take that step of faith and you begin doing things to serve the lord and there and and so i want bible doing and and again now here's the thing this is truth this is biblical truth you know when i talk about serving and these things this is what the bible talks about that even jesus came not to be served but to serve that's who we're supposed to be following so how can we say well i'm following him but i'm not serving well then you're not following him these are biblical truths these are absolutes if you will now understand and and it's interesting the world says well there's no such thing as absolute truth yes there is this book is filled with absolutes it tells us in no uncertain terms that Jesus is the only way to heaven it says that now whether you agree with that it's up to you but that is what the bible says so if you're saying you're following jesus you can't say well lots of lots of ways you know lead to jesus no no that's not that's not what it says so jesus is the only way well that's narrow-minded no it's not narrow-minded that's reality and you can think well if i jump off the building i think i'm going to go sideways no you're not you can believe that all the way down but when you get to the bottom when you get to the end of your path there will be a harsh reality that you didn't go left you didn't go right you fell straight down why because there's only one way really to the ground and that's straight down well guess what there's one way down there's one way up there's one way up i'm thankful that jesus has given us this one way up and i understand you can believe that or you cannot believe it you can believe that or you cannot believe it it doesn't change the truth it doesn't change the truth the next life lesson whether you or someone believes the truth or not it does not change the truth whether you or someone believes the truth or not it does not change the truth see a lot of times we think well we don't believe it it's not so no no no you cannot believe in gravity it doesn't change anything it changes your perspective perhaps i had a friend years ago had a black lab, and whenever he would start to fuss at the black lab, the black lab would shut his eyes.

You disappear, you're gone, I'm invisible, you know. It didn't change the truth that the dog was in trouble. It just changed his perspective. Jesus in John chapter eight, verse 31 and 32. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, understand, we usually think of all the Jewish people as rejected Jews, and they didn't.

Majority of the church, early church, was Jewish believers. Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. We usually just quote the last part of that, and the truth shall set you free.

That's not what he said. Jesus never said, and the truth shall set you free. If that were true, everybody who owned the Bible would be free. But he said, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and then, if you will, the truth shall make you free. You may not believe the truth about sin and the forgiveness and the resurrection. You may not believe in the second coming of Jesus. But you remember that little thing we said as kids?

Ready or not, here I come. The fact that you believe or don't believe doesn't change the facts. There's a bumper sticker. I know you shouldn't be trying to get theological truth from a bumper sticker anyway, but there's a bumper sticker that's out there that says, God said it, I believe it, that settles it.

I got a problem with that bumper sticker. Because you know what? God said it, that settles it. Whether you believe it or not has nothing to do with anything just because you believe it, you think that settles it? Guys, it's truth. It's an absolute truth. God said it. If you believe it or your friends believe it or they don't believe it, doesn't matter. The truth is still the truth.

And the absolute truth is there's only one way to heaven and Jesus has provided that one way. And he says, I find no fault in him at all. Look who God is using to pronounce the innocence of Jesus.

Isn't it interesting? You understand, he used three people that the world did not regard necessarily. Pilate, to say a spiritual thing like this. There's no fault in him. You understand there's no fault in Jesus? You can find stuff wrong with the church. I mean the church in general. You can find stuff wrong with this church.

But you can't find anything wrong with Jesus. We'll be right back with more from David Magee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from Associate Pastor D.A.

Brown. Hey, we wanna take just a couple minutes to pray for some cities in our listening audience. Specifically, Polson and Whitefish, Montana, and also Franklin, Norfolk, and Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and Battle Mountain and Carson City, Nevada. Lord, thank you for the people tuning in right now, listening in these cities. Lord, we pray that they would be encouraged, that you would fill them up with faith to say yes to you, and Lord, that they would trust you with all that you wanna do. God, we pray for the churches in the area, that you give the pastors wisdom. Lord, that you fill the churches up, and that people would grow and thrive and begin to serve you. And Lord, we pray for those in government positions.

Lord, the mayor, the police chief, those on the town council, everyone with authority. Lord, we pray for unity, we pray for wisdom, discernment, and peace. God, we pray that you bless these cities, and that many people would put their trust in you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen, thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David Magee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 39, 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? Verse 40, then they all cried together, saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber, and other gospels were told he was a thief, a seditionist, a man of sedition trying to encourage rebellion, and also a murderer. And the crowd chooses Barabbas.

And guys, I think we can see an elemental truth here. Just because the crowd chooses somebody doesn't mean that they've made a good choice. It's very interesting to see the way mobs and crowds react to pressures and peer pressure and those things, but obviously, they made a bad decision here, because crowds often make bad choices. Just because everybody's doing something doesn't mean it's a good thing or a right thing. Don't allow culture and society to teach you what is right and wrong, because they're gonna get it wrong a lot. Why, because that's what crowds do.

That's what crowds do. Now, Barabbas was a guilty man. He was a guilty man. And a guilty man was about to be set free. And here, in the midst of the process of the crucifixion, we see the glorious truth of the gospel. Barabbas had already been through a trial. He had been accused, and then he came to the trial, and at that trial, someone in authority, someone in power said, you're guilty. And then someone in power said, you're guilty, and your sentence is death.

That's the price you have to pay. And I think we need to recognize this, because that is the place that all of us either have been in the past, or perhaps some are even now. Romans 5-12 says, therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. See, even if you've never done anything wrong, you're under a condemnation from Adam, from the original sin.

Now, dare I say that none of us would say that we've never done anything wrong. But we stand under this condemnation. Romans 6-23 says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

What does this mean? This is the payment. This is the payment for our actions, for our sin.

A lot of you work. What happens once a week at work, you get paid. And you're pretty sure that's gonna happen, right?

Hopefully. You won't be paid for your actions. Let me use another analogy. You go to a restaurant, you eat a lot of food, but all of a sudden you realize you don't know anybody in the restaurant, you don't have any cash on you, you don't have any check cards, or credit cards, or anything. And then the bill comes due. Somebody's gotta pay that bill.

And then I see somebody I know. And I'm like, oh, please. You say, yeah, I'll pay the price for you. I'm willing to pay that. Just as assuredly as that bill is coming, this bill for sin has got to be paid. But the thing is, see, we're unequipped to pay it. We can't pay it.

The only thing that we can give is all. And that's our death. That's what we deserve to pay for what we've done for our actions.

But Jesus stands and he says, you know what? I'll pay it. I'll pay it. The life lesson here is Jesus paid a debt he did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay. You can't pay your sin debt.

Jesus offers to pay your sin debt. But also there's something a little deeper here because the name Barabbas is an interesting name. It's Aramaic.

Well, what does it mean? Well, we're given clues in scripture what it means. You don't have to speak Aramaic or Greek or Hebrew to find out what Barabbas means. You can find out from the Bible.

The Bible tells us. Matthew 16, 17. It says, and Jesus answered, said unto him, blessed art thou Simon Barjona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my father which is in heaven, Simon Barjona. Barjona, remember that.

Because when you go to John 21, 17, he said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Barjona means son of Jonah. So bar means son. Well, what's the second part mean?

What does abbas mean? Well, we're told that as well. Romans chapter eight, for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, father. Barabbas means son of the father. There's no details by happenstance in here.

Understand the picture. There was a man whose name was son of the father that stood condemned under the law, sentenced to death, and Jesus Christ, an innocent man, said I will take his place. A divine transaction happened.

I don't know if you've ever heard the story. Visitor comes in the church, sits down on one of the pews, and somebody comes up to him and says, you took my place. He said, what? He said, this is where I sit. And he said, okay. So he moved to another place. Somebody came up to that place, took my place.

See, that's my grandmother's name right there on the back of that pew. He said, okay. So he got up, he moved again.

Same thing happened. Somebody else said, hey, you took my place. The man who had been dressed in jeans and cowboy boots came to the front, and in front of them changed to the appearance of the beaten and bleeding savior. And they looked at him and said, what happened?

And he said, I took your place. See, that's what Jesus has done. We all stand condemned under the law. And Jesus made a divine transaction. Why? Because we couldn't pay the debt.

You can't pay the debt. And what's amazing is even once we come to that knowledge, we ask the Lord to forgive us of our sins, some of us still try to carry it. We still try to carry our sins.

We still think it's godly to carry this baggage around when God is saying, he'll put it down. That's why I died for you. Don't come to me once you're all fixed. Come to me, you who are broken and heavy laden and beat up and worn out because he didn't come to fix the healthy. He came to fix the sick. He didn't come for the righteous. He came for the sinner. He didn't come to find those who thought they were already found. He came to seek and save that which was lost. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned, and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27117, and share how God is working in your life. You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood, through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give. Either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge.

Thank you so much. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day, you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God, with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David. Those are terrific, and it's easy and it's free. So folks, sign up today at crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.