Take your Bibles with me and turn with me to Luke 23. Luke 23. We've been studying this book for a long time, a couple years now, and we are coming in chapter 23 to the climax of what this book has been all about.

But it's more than just the climax of the Gospel of Luke. It's really the climax of the whole Bible. Everything in the Old Testament was looking forward to the cross of Christ. And everything in the New Testament that comes after John is explaining the cross of Christ and its implications. What happens in Luke 23 is really the very center of the whole Bible and the very center of what it means to be a Christian.

In this chapter, Jesus is going to be crucified, unjustly, nailed to a wooden cross, and tortured to death for crimes he did not commit. For my crime, for your crime.

But before Jesus goes to the cross, he goes to a secular trial. Actually, a series of secular trials. And that's what we're going to cover this morning. The first 25 verses of Luke 23.

During the Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards preached one of the most famous sermons ever, entitled "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". Well, one old preacher said Luke 23 should be titled "God in the Hands of Angry Sinners". Because that's what we're going to see today. Let's go ahead and read verses 1 to 25.

1 And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate.
2 And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.
3 And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it.
4 Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man.
5 And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.
6 When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean.
7 And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time.
8 And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.
9 Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing.
10 And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him.
11 And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate.
12 And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves.
13 And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,
14 Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him:
15 No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him.
16 I will therefore chastise him, and release him.
17 (For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.)
18 And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:
19 (Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.)
20 Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them.
21 But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.
22 And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go.
23 And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.
24 And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.
25 And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.
Luke 23:1-25

I really believe that what we see in these verses is the worst of humanity. Mankind at its worst.

We were discussing in Sunday school this morning that most people in the world think that mankind is essentially good, that our problems stem from our surroundings, from our environment. Money, education, family background. And if we could just fix those things, then all would be right.

But it's wrong. Mankind is not essentially good. Mankind is wicked and evil and sinful. Mankind has rejected Jesus Christ. It's rejected God. And if you want to see the heart of mankind as it truly is on full display, look no further than this passage.

We're gonna look at four different failings of mankind as we work through this passage. And then we're gonna look at one more word that relates to mankind and our sin nature. So five things this morning, five words that help us understand who man is and our relationship to God. Let's pray and we'll get into that.

{{Prayer}}

So in this passage, Jesus is led by the high priest to the house of Pilate. The high priests were the religious leaders of Israel, but they weren't really the leaders of Israel. Israel was under Roman control, and Pilate was the Roman ruler of the land.

The high priest and religious leaders had already determined that Jesus was guilty. Before the trial ever happened, they determined that Jesus was guilty and they were going to do whatever they had to do to kill him.

They've had this show trial at Annas and Caiaphas's house. But they have a problem. They're not legally allowed to execute anybody. And the Roman government does not care that Jesus broke any of the religious rules that they have. They would execute him if they could for blasphemy, for claiming to be God. But the Romans don't care about that. And the Romans are the only ones that can execute Jesus.

And so they come before Pilate early in the morning on this feast day. Pound on his door. We have a prisoner we want you to take care of. We want you to execute this prisoner. Okay? What did he do? And they bring three different accusations against Jesus.

You see these in verse two.

They say he's perverting the nation. In other words, he's a rabble-rouser. He's whipping people up.

They say, number two, he's forbidding to give tribute to Caesar. By the way, that is an outright lie. They tried to trap him with this earlier on. And Jesus famously said, Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Jesus taught that we should pay our taxes, even to someone like Caesar. This is a lie, and they knew it.

And then it says he says that he is Christ or Messiah, a king.

The first word that we see in this passage that describes the heart of mankind is...

1. Malice

These high priests were acting with malice, with hatred in their heart towards Jesus. They despised Jesus and they wanted him destroyed. And they were willing to do whatever they had to do to see Jesus destroyed.

Typically, the high priests, religious leaders, and Pilate had nothing to do with each other. In fact, earlier, when Pilate was first installed, he set these high priests off. He put banners up that had an image of Caesar on it to be worshipped. And they staged a mass protest over this and even were willing to die over this. They were not going to have an image of a man to be worshipped in the city and around the temple.

Another time before this, Pilate raided the temple to steal money to build an aqueduct. That money was for the temple, and he just took it for a city project, and then had his soldiers basically beat up anybody that protested.

So the high priests and religious leaders hated Pilate. But you know who they hated more than Pilate? They hated Jesus more than Pilate.

Human beings don't tend to be openly malicious. The malicious side that we have tends to sit in the shadows. And when it comes out, sometimes it's a surprise that people can be that nasty, that determined to hurt somebody else. But it's there. It's in us.

And these religious leaders who throughout this whole episode are doing everything they can to end Jesus' life, to get rid of Jesus, are a reminder that we can have malice in our hearts.

Mankind might say that man is basically good - and we are grateful that the image of God still is in man - there is some good in man. But the Bible doesn't say man is basically good. Listen to what the Bible says about our heart's condition outside of God and His grace.

10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Romans 3:10-18

So the first thing we see in this story is Malice - we see it in the actions of the High Priests and Religious Leaders.

Those religious leaders took Jesus to Pilate and Pilate did an investigation and realized very quickly Jesus was innocent. Pilate told the religious leaders that, and so they came up with another accusation in verse 5. They said "he stirs up the people, from Galilee to here."

When Pilate heard the word "Galilee," he got an idea. Galilee was Herod's jurisdiction. Maybe this could be Herod's problem—and Herod was in town for the Passover.

So Pilate had Jesus taken to be tried by Herod.

This is Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, the ruler of the region where Jesus spent most of his life.

Pilate was not excited to see Jesus—but Herod was. Herod was giddy that he was going to meet Jesus. And it's interesting, because Luke tells us that Jesus "answered not a word."

Now, why would Jesus do that? Jesus talked with the wicked, malicious high priests in that trial. Jesus talked at length with Pilate (it's recorded in other books). But Jesus wouldn't open his mouth for Herod. Why?

Here is what I think: Herod had already seen the light and hardened his heart against it.

Herod was a wicked man. One of the wicked things he did was have a crush on his niece—a woman named Herodias. Not only was she his niece, but she was married to his half-brother. So she was his sister-in-law.

That didn't stop Herod. He seduced her and married her. It was wrong on many levels.

John the Baptist preached against this. So Herod locked up John. But do you know what is interesting? Herod started to listen to John. He knew John was a holy man. He feared him and protected him.

Then, one night at a birthday party, Herod's stepdaughter Salome danced before his drunken friends and Herod said "Ask for anything and I'll give it to you." And Salome (coached by her wicked mother) said "I want John the Baptist's head on a platter."

And this really bothered Herod and made him sad—but he had John the Baptist killed anyway.

So when Jesus stood before Herod, Jesus was standing before someone who had already come under conviction and who had hardened his wicked heart and killed his conscience. And Jesus wasn't going to play games with this man.

And it really shows how wicked Herod was: when Herod realized Jesus wasn't going to play along and do miracles on demand for him, he let his soldiers dress him up like a king and mock him and beat him.

So if the leaders showed us Malice, Herod shows us a heart that is so bad it can lead to...

2. Mockery

Herod was a scorner. He held Jesus in contempt. He despised God and Jesus so much that he would mock Christ.

There are those who are so hardened in their hearts that they think that God is a joke. They laugh about him on comedy stages and bars. They mock Him and anyone who follows Him.

But I want you to notice something - Herod wasn't judging Jesus here, Jesus was judging Herod. And Jesus will get the last word.

So we see the dark heart of man in the malice of the religous leaders and in the hardened conscience and mockery of Herod.

The third word we see in this passage that shows us the heart of man is...

3. Cowardice

You see, Herod sent Christ back to Pilate. Ultimately, Herod couldn't find anything wrong with Jesus. So now, both Pilate and Herod have pronounced Jesus as innocent.

Pilate probably wasn't happy to have Jesus back on his hands. He stands up in front of the crowd and says "This guy is innocent, I'm going to beat him and release him."

Huh? That doesn't make any sense. That's not right. But Pilate was trying to play the crowd. He thought if he just beat Jesus they would give it up.

But they didn't. They kept pressing. Pilate's next idea related to a tradition they had. Every year at Passover, the Romans would release one convicted criminal to the masses.

Pilate probably said "who is the worst guy we have locked up right now?" and one of his lackeys said "Oh, that's Barabbas. Mean rabble rouser. Insurrectionist. Murdered some people."

So Pilate says who do you want me to release Jesus or Barabbas - this convicted killer. And the crowd says "Give us Barabbas."

In another book, it tells us that the jews said to Pilate that "he was no friend of Caesar" if he let Jesus go. That was the final straw.

Ultimately, Pilate makes a display of washing his hands but sends Jesus to be killed anyways.

Pilate knew what he was doing was wrong. But he did it anyway. He went along with the crowd. He gave into pressure.

4. Willfulness

• State: The crowd demands Barabbas and insists that Jesus be crucified (Luke 23:18–23).
• Restate: Their voices prevail, and Pilate delivers Jesus to “their will” (v. 25). They insist on their choice even after hearing that Jesus is innocent.
• Illustrate: Put the two men side by side: Barabbas was imprisoned for insurrection and murder; Jesus was repeatedly found innocent. Yet the crowd calls for Barabbas to be released.
• Apply: We can want Jesus on our terms, then resist him when he does not give us what we want. Where are we insisting on our will instead of submitting to him? Luke shows the crowd's choice; he does not tell us every person's motive.

5. Substitution

• State: Barabbas, the guilty man, is released; Jesus, the innocent man, is condemned (Luke 23:19, 24–25).
• Restate: This exchange pictures the gospel: the innocent Christ suffers while the guilty go free.
• Illustrate: Luke names Barabbas's crimes and repeatedly records that Jesus is innocent. When the sentence falls, the prisoner is released and Jesus is handed over.
• Apply: Do not only stand over the malice, mockery, cowardice, and willfulness of others. See yourself in need of the mercy pictured by Barabbas's release. Christ offers forgiveness to guilty people who turn to him.

Conclusion

We've seen malice in the leaders, mockery in Herod, cowardice in Pilate, and willfulness in the crowd. But we can't stand at a safe distance and say we would never have acted like them. We are sinners too.

Then look at Barabbas. A guilty man walks free, and the innocent Jesus is condemned. That is where our hope is. Jesus went to the cross for guilty people. We don't have to pretend we're innocent; we can come to him, confess our sin, and receive his mercy.