Pronouncing Judgement on Jesus - Part 2

Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast, our show.

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Welcome back to Experience Truth. I'm Stu Epperson, and so glad to have you for another week journeying through the book of Luke. This is a Bible study, a men's group. It's a bunch of messed up guys like me that are going through the book of Luke and the book of Acts, just going through books of the Bible. This week we're in Luke 23, and we're looking at verses 1 through 12. Last time we did the first half of this passage, and one of our Wednesday Word guys is with me. He's also a talk show host in his own right.

His name is Michael Zwick. Michael, thanks for coming back another week on Experience Truth, man. Thank you so much, and we'll look at verse 8. Now 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, 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. Wow, so there's a whole lot in there in that passage.

Michael, read this question here to get us going, the why question right there, that's the second question of that series there. Why was Herod so excited to see Jesus? So there's been word of Christ throughout his ministry, getting to the ears of Herod. Herod was really quite perplexed by the miracles that he worked, he heard about that.

In addition to that, he's a threat to the throne. In addition to that, his cousin John the Baptist, who was the only one with the guts to stand up to an ungodly despot like Herod, was in prison, and eventually he cut his head off. So Herod likely thought, this is the ghost.

You look at Luke 9 and Luke 13, and also Matthew, Herod thought that here Jesus is the ghost of John the Baptist, coming back to haunt him. So this is a surreal moment, but he definitely, if you read this next question, look at how Jesus responds to Herod. Why was Jesus silent before him?

Not a word. Just like Isaiah 53, like a lamb led to the slaughter, he opened not his mouth. So he doesn't even dignify a response to this evil man who he called a fox earlier in Luke 13.

He doesn't even dignify a response, doesn't say a word to him that whole time. And then this is really a tragic question, this next one. What brought on the brutal abuse of Jesus by Herod's soldiers? So here you have, Michael, here's a trivia question for you and all of our listeners. Right. What was the only instance in history of a completely innocent person on trial? Jesus.

Yeah. And you may think, well yeah, but this guy was put on death row and he never killed that person. The DNA test came back and they set him free. Well, but he wasn't completely innocent. Right.

Now he was innocent of that crime. Right. But he wasn't completely innocent in as much as he is a son of Adam.

Right. Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 15, by one man sin entered the world and death by sin for all have sinned. By Adam, right, we have sin. So we are all of sin and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3 23, Romans 6 23, the wages of sin is death, the penalty of sin is death. Yeah.

See? So we have Isaiah, the soul that sinneth shall surely die. So here you have the only innocent man. Jesus was not born with a sin nature. He was virgin born, which bypassed the seed of man. He was born of God.

So he was perfect. And here he is on trial being beaten, laughed at. The only innocent person to ever be on trial is being abused, is being ripped on, spit upon, beaten ruthlessly by the soldiers of Herod.

Just can you picture that? Think about that and think about the fact that he was bruised for our iniquities. Right. So the reason that he was bruised is because we deserve to be. The reason that he was bruised is so we could be healed. Right. By his stripes were healed.

Isn't that pretty remarkable? So they treated him with contempt. Now his men of war, in verse 11 reference, they're going to be tough guys. These are the top dudes. These are the the Navy Seals of Herod's contingent. So these guys aren't to be, you know, messed with.

They're tough dudes. And we know Christ could have called, you know, 10,000 angels, you know, which we taught about earlier when he was arrested. But he didn't.

But these guys would have known how to hurt them without killing them, and that was their whole goal. But by now he's a bloody mango mess. He'd been through all night of this, you know, in these kangaroo courts with the Jews and all. And so they mocked him.

Now this is interesting. They arrayed him in a gorgeous robe. So this is more mockery. This is putting a robe on that probably wouldn't have been a nice robe, but would have mimicked, well you call yourself a king, well let's dress you up. Right.

Let's do a little fun dress-up party that is going to further, you know, throw, you know, fuel on the fire. Right. And further make fun and further attack and abuse Christ. And so that's what they did. So let's keep moving along. How did a common hatred for Jesus unite Pilate and Herod and many throughout history that would otherwise be enemies?

Wow. So a lot of folks hate each other. And we noticed this, you know, earlier on in chapter 20, 21, 22, Christ is being questioned.

He's being cross-examined. We know the Pharisees hated the Sadducees. We know the Sadducees hated the Herodians.

We knew the Herodians hated the zealots. But interesting, here toward the end, as it comes to a point called the cross, all these once sworn enemies, they all have one common enemy, and they are united. They're coalesced. It's much like the nation of Israel. Have you ever wondered why you got maybe six or seven million Jews occupying that little speck in the nation of Israel, but there's 700 million nations around them who, by the way, they hate each other. They're bombing the snot out of each other all the time, but they have one common enemy. Israel. They come together, they love each other. They have one common.

If they see Israel on a passport, you're denied, you know, into their country. But isn't it fascinating that there's that disdain? That's true of Jesus.

You have all these people, even in America. The Christian, one of these days, as this thing tightens up, and as Sharon Christ becomes hate speech, all these groups that hate each other, they're going to come together, and they're going to peg it. They're going to accuse the Christian. The Christian is going to—and Jesus said that, didn't he? He said, and Jesus said that, didn't he? He said, you're going to be dragged in front of courts. You're going to be thrown in jail. You're going to be killed for my name's sake. So here, Jesus is modeling that on trial before the two most powerful people in Jerusalem who were sworn in because they hate each other.

They're constantly in a battle, constantly trying to tattletale on each other up to Rome, you know, working every little angle, working on taxes. Hey, you got more. I got less. Hey, that's my territory. Hey, what are you doing? That's my guy.

Hey, why did you mistreat my contingent? Boom boom boom boom boom. This and that. Well, all of a sudden, they're BFFs because of their common hatred for Jesus.

You got to take us home. Who was really on trial here? How is your eternal destiny determined by what you do with Jesus? So, you know, we talk about the trial of Jesus, Michael, and we talk about how here he is standing in front of Pilate, standing in front of Herod, being abused, being castigated, being questioned over and over again. But the question is, who's on trial? Is Pilate on trial, or is Jesus really on trial, or is Pilate on trial?

See? Is Herod—you know, Herod was haunted by Jesus thinking he was John the Baptist ghost. Herod now is haunted by that moment in history which we're reading about right now, by his one encounter with a living Lord, the only one who could save his soul. He's haunted for all of eternity. Michael, have you ever thought about, when you're sharing—and I did this one time, sharing Christ with someone—I said to them, I said, you know, you could hear my voice inviting you to Christ, echoing throughout your mind for the rest of eternity, while you are burning alive forever in hell. I don't want that to be. I want you to come to Christ. Don't let my words be haunting you for eternity. We're a pilot in Herod right now. In hell, yeah.

But think about that. Now, we're still here, and there's other people still here, and they still hate Jesus, but we have a chance to share. We have the good news, we have the message, right? Maybe that's why he still kept us around. Not maybe, but for sure, to be his witnesses.

Ask that final question. We'll get out of here. Why is it a blessing to be falsely accused and abused for his namesake? Yeah, so we get abused and accused all the time. As believers, we get the bad rap, and sometimes our first reaction is, well, how dare they? Well, I need to do a radio show about this.

I need to file a lawsuit. How dare they? My religious rights and all that. And of course, we have freedom of speech in America, and that's how this government's set up. But for now.

For now. But there's a badge of honor. When you talk to someone, you look so in the eye, and I've done this. When I look Muhammad in the eye, who was thrown in prison because he proclaimed Jesus on a TV interview. He said, Islam cannot get you to heaven.

It's false. Jesus is the only way to heaven. He walked off the set. They cuffed him, and they threw him in a rough prison over in the Middle East. So that was his crime. And you know what he said? He said, Stu, I do it again.

I count it as a badge of honor. So here Jesus is on trial. We're his followers. And he's saying, yes, greater works you'll do than these that I do. But he's also saying, these same things that I suffered, you're going to suffer. But the question is, is it worth it?

I think so. And the question is, if you don't engage people with the good news of the Gospel, you're not going to suffer. You're not going to have anything. You want the greatest way to just live this nice, best life and go through life without any challenge, without any ripples, is just shut your mouth up for Jesus.

Don't say another word about him. But we're challenged to do the opposite of that, aren't we, Michael? Yeah, if you're truly saved, I believe, if you're not sharing Jesus, something's going to bother you. Yeah. So, the sad, tragic moment that someone so close could look into the eyes of the author of salvation and yet be so hardened.

Yeah. So today, right now, right here, right now, we're inviting you. And I love the verse you brought up last time, Romans 10, 9, and 10. We're inviting you to call upon the name of the Lord, to listen to our voice. Don't miss this opportunity.

Pull your car over, friend. What do you say? Call upon his name. Lord, save me. Open my heart. Change me.

Transform me. You got addictions. You got deep problems. You got a marriage problem. You got a problem with your kid. You're a prodigal. You've been running from God. I can't fix you.

Michael can't fix you. Right. But Jesus Christ can.

And we want to introduce you to him. That's right. And you may say, well, I'll do this later, but scripture says today is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6, you read that to me earlier this morning when we were in Wednesday and we were together. That's right. So that's our passage.

And one day, the roles will be reversed because Pilate and Herod were looking at the man who will be their judge one day, who will throw them into hell. Are you ready to stand before God? Do you know him? Not just know about him. Do you know him? Is he just in entertainment for you? A cute cross necklace around your neck? A fun little experience at church once a month or at Christmas or Easter? Or do you know Jesus, has he changed your life?

And if he has, who are you telling? Yeah. We got to take some folks with us. We got to share the good news. 2.5 billion people on our planet have never heard the gospel. Let's tell them.

Let's tell them. Christ is risen. He's coming back. Do you know him? Who? Share Christ with one person before your head hits the pill tonight. That's right. This is the Truth Network.