Passing Judgement on the Eternal Judge

This is Sam from the Masking Journey Podcast, and our goal with the podcast has helped you to try to find your way in this difficult world. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Welcome back to Experience Truth, I'm Stu Everson.

In the last part of Truth Talk, we jump right into the Word. We've been journeying through the book of Luke. It's been an amazing journey, and I have a special guest, another talk show host, who hosts a program called If Not For God, who I interviewed recently on Truth Talk.

His name is Michael Zwick. Michael also comes to Wednesday in the Word, right Michael? You're one of our regular guys there. I try to come every week, man.

I wouldn't want to miss it for the world. It's a great time, and he caught me too recently. He actually videoed a little segment that I didn't know he was videoing, and he put it on his Facebook page. It was real encouraging, so thanks for what you're doing on social media, Michael, and in your radio program, your ministry to touch people. It's really cool.

We love it, and we were just talking about this before. We definitely want to tell people about Jesus, and we have a tool, I believe, right now that many generations before us would have loved to have had. We know a lot of people use Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and stuff for the wrong reasons or for self-promotion, but we can also use it to share the good news. That's what we're doing with Experience Truth. Michael, I'm going to have you read the passage. If you'll read the Scripture for us, Luke 23, 1-12 is our passage this week. We're starting a new chapter in Luke, and it's the trial of Jesus Christ.

He's already stood on trial for some time. All in all, there were three Jewish trials, three Roman trials, back and forth, back and forth, and then Jesus stands before, for the first time, Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Jerusalem, between AD 26 and 36. This is the encounter with Pilate that we're reading about today. Go ahead and read the passage, and then we'll get into the questions that are connected. Go ahead, Michael.

Thanks for being a guest with us today on Experience Truth. Thank you, and it's Luke 23, 1-12. He stirs up the people teaching throughout all Judea. And he hoped to see some miracle done by him.

Then he questioned him with many words, but he answered him nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes stood and vehemently accused him. Then Herod, with his men of war, treated him with contempt and mocked him, arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him back to Pilate.

That very day, Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other. So that's the passage, and if you would, read this first question, and this will kind of get us into what's going on here. How were the accusations before Pilate completely different than the previous trial? So the previous trial is interesting.

Here's what has gone on, and if you were with us last time, you have this contingent. This multitude that led him to Pilate is basically the Jewish Supreme Court, the 70-member Sanhedrin, the High Court of Israel, and then a host of other ranking religious leaders. They had been illegally prosecuting, accusing Jesus all night, dragging him to see Annas, to see Caiaphas, they had been accusing him of all things, they had conjured up these false witnesses, it was horrible. And the reason that they had to take him to Pilate was simple. They needed, for a high-profile person like this, they needed Roman blessing, the stamp of Roman approval, to carry out the death penalty.

Plain and simple. And we have that in John 18, verses 31 and 32. So there's been a lot going on, but this is kind of the climactic point of the trial, where they are saying, if we want him killed, if we want to off this guy, we've got to take him to the Romans to do it.

Go ahead with this next question, that'll get us into the next part. How were all three accusations false? Why did Pilate marvel and find no fault in him? So you have three accusations in verse 2. First, they said, we have found him perverting the nation. And basically the word perverting there means stirring up, it's an attack, it's basically accusing Jesus of insurrection. And we know that's a false accusation.

Why? Because Christ came to bring peace, not a sword. And because his kingdom is not of this world. He says, look, if my kingdom was of this world, my soldiers, my followers, my disciples would be fighting for me.

They'd have their swords drawn, they'd be coming after me, but they're not. The second accusation, forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar. Remember the Herodians attacked him on this same count? Christ publicly answered them, he said, render Caesar that was Caesar, unto God that was God. So Christ never did this, but it was a false accusation. The third one is saying that he is king. And basically, they're saying he's trying to set up king, he's trying to usurp Roman authority, King Herod, he's trying to usurp Pilate, but the fact is, he's not trying to usurp anyone, because his kingdom is not of this world.

So these three different accusations that were contrived and made up, none of them stuck. They were all libelous, disingenuous, but they wanted Jesus dead, because they were rejecting him. He came to his own, his own received him not. And because he was exposing them, and he was offering them, here you have the Messiah, and yet you want him dead. But Pilate asked this direct question. Imagine looking into the eyes of the King of the Universe and asking, are you the King of the Jews? So here you have Jesus bruised and bloodied, he's a mess.

He's a physical mess, Michael. And here you have Pilate's question. Could have been a patronizing question.

He could have been saying it loud for all the rest of them to hear. Like, this man? This guy's the King of the Jews?

Are you kidding me? Where's his army? Why isn't he speaking up? Why isn't he even defending himself? He's been tried and tried and tried. He's been asked all these questions. We're giving you a chance, sir, once and for all, openly, publicly, to defend yourself. His scatters!

Where are they? They're not even armed, and they are wheels up, gone. And then Pilate makes this conclusion. I find no fault in this man. And Michael, there you have, in verse 4 of Luke 23, you have one of many verdicts of innocence declared about Jesus. As soon as the Jews, bloodthirsty Jews, they wanted him dead, he was guilty as everything. But both Pilate and Herod, we're going to see this later as it comes out, both declared him completely innocent.

Wow. So keep on going with these questions. Why was Herod so excited to see Jesus? Luke 7-9.

And why was Jesus silent before him? So Pilate goes as far as he can, and the animosity is intensifying. Verse 5 accentuates that.

After he says, I find no fault in this man, they were more fierce, saying, he stirs up the people. He's been teaching all this stuff. So when Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the men were Galilean. And as soon as he knew, he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction. Talk about passing the buck. This was what Pilate was really good at. So just like our modern courts, there's jurisdiction. There's people that are based on geography, your district. Some court cases are moved to other areas, regions, counties, because they're under a jurisdiction of that county.

And this is exactly the case. Herod's in town, as is everybody for the big Sabbath, and it's the Passover. And so Pilate is glad, no doubt, to shift the responsibility of such a difficult case, a capital case, to someone who is actually over that area, Herod. So ever the politician, Herod's in the city to smooth with his constituents, and it says in verse 8, this is really a fascinating statement, when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad.

For he had desired for a long time to see him, because he had heard many things about him, he hoped to see some miracle done by him. So he was really glad to see Jesus. And the same Herod that had the cousin of Jesus beheaded, John the Baptist, now he sees the head of the body, Jesus Christ, and he's really glad to see him.

And it's, again, a big joke. In Luke 9 and 13, both talk about Herod. There was a history between these two. We mentioned John the Baptist. We also know that from Luke 9 and Matthew 14, Herod was haunted by Jesus, because he thought that Jesus was the ghost of John the Baptist, and Herod had been publicly called out by John the Baptist. So the words of Jesus' miracles and fame had reached his ears, but he wanted tricks. Here he has in front of him, Michael, the one that can change his life, the one that can save the world, the one that can forgive his sins, and the sins were many.

Herod was a barbaric, brutal man, murdered people in his own household, horrible guy, and the one who could heal him and forgive him of all his sin, Jesus Christ, even his incestuous, immoral, adulterous relationship with his wife. I mean, it's just crazy how that happened. Jesus is standing in front of him, and he wants a little game. He wants a little trick. Here, Jesus, show off your miracles.

And so that's how that went down, and it was really sad. And again, Jesus said nothing. He's quiet, not a word from the living Word, not a word to dignify the aggressive questioning and this awful, debauched, desperate Herod.

And so the trial of Christ before Herod, he only appears before Herod, by the way, in the book of Luke. It's fascinating. We're going to get into more of that next time on Experience Truth. We're going to answer these final four questions, and I hope you'll be able to come back with us, Michael, next time, will you? Yeah.

So you think about this idea. As people are confronted with who Jesus is, listening to Experience Truth right now, Michael, what's your word to them? Are they going to laugh? Are they wanting a little mock? Hey, show me a little miracle. How should they be thinking?

How should they frame this? This may be the last chance they ever hear the gospel on this crazy radio show podcast. What do you say? Well, I think a lot of times people want to see, hey, will Jesus fit into my lifestyle? And is it okay if I have a little bit of Jesus in a little bit of the world?

And I think what we should really be asking is, am I right now? Am I in the will of God? And it says in Romans 10, 9, what does it say, Stu? If you confess through your mouth that Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. You will be saved. Yeah. So it's a great call to salvation.

This is Experience Truth. I'm Stu Epperson. That's the voice of Michael Zwick, the host of If Not For God. You can learn more about his podcast, and he's on Facebook as well.

Just look for Michael Zwick, or Mike Zwick, Z-W-I-C-K. Great man of God, great program. But he's been along as a guest contributor, helping me through the questions this week as we journey through Luke. Next week, the wrap-up of the trial of Jesus before Herod, and how two sworn enemies, Pilate and Herod, suddenly become friends over the mutual enemy they have, and the one they will ban, they will call for his execution, Jesus Christ. A turbulent but fascinating story from Luke 23. Next time, we'll pick it up on Experience Truth.