Depths of Sin - The Sinfulness of Man Seen in the Trial of Jesus
-Introduction
-With today being April 15th, I thought it would be appropriate to consider Jesus’ words,
“...render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”
(Matt 22:21, ESV).
-I don’t know that I’ve ever met a person that expressed a great amount of joy over
paying taxes. However, we should understand that we are obligated to do so under
the authority that God has granted to earthly governments (see Rom 13).
-Of course, with an election year approaching, we’ll here much more about the topic
of taxes - a hot topic accompanied by varying approaches and much debate.
-In Jesus’ day, guess what? - The people didn’t enjoy paying taxes to the Roman gov’t -
it was a hot topic accompanied by varying approaches and much debate.
-So on the Tuesday before the crucifixion, the Jewish leaders still desiring to entrap
Jesus, challenged Him with the topic of taxes.
-Matt 22:15-22
-If Jesus answered “yes,” He would please the Herodians but upset the Jews. If
He said “no,” He would please the Jews but the Herodians could then run to
Pilate with accusations.
-“[R]ender unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” satisfied the Herodians while
the words, “and to God the things that are God’s” satisfied the Jews.
-Once again, Jesus had overcome their plots against Him.
-Yet, there’s another reason why I wanted to point this passage out.
-The Depths of Sin Revealed in the “Trials” of Jesus
-Just days later, Jesus would be betrayed by Judas in the middle of the night, taken into
Jewish custody, paraded to Annas then Caiaphas and would stand before the Sanhedrin.
-The Jewish leaders had failed in the attempts to entrap Jesus. Yet, instead of admitting
the validity of Jesus and His teachings, they received false witnesses with false accusations.
-Mark 14:55-59
-It seems that the high priest realized that the proceedings were not going well for the
Jews at that point and directly asked Jesus, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the
Blessed?” When Jesus affirmed, the high priest charged Him with blasphemy and
“...they all condemned him as deserving death” (vs 64).
-As we talked about last week with our reading of Matthew 27:1-2, to have Jesus put to death
the Jews needed the participation of the Romans. So, early in the morning, they took
Jesus to Pilate.
-John 18:28-32
-Now notice the audacity of the Jewish leaders. Even though they rejected the Son of God,
attempted to entrap Him, sought false witness against Him, wrongly accused Him,
physically abused Him and were prepared to lie to Pilate regarding Him - they wouldn’t
go into Pilate’s headquarters “...so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the
Passover” (Jn 18:28).
-Matt 23:24 - “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.”
-“They took care, therefore, to guard themselves against what they considered ceremonial
pollution, while they were wholly unconcerned at the enormous crime of putting the
innocent Saviour to death, and imbruing their hands in their Messiah's blood. Probably
there is not anywhere to be found among men another such instance of petty regard to the
mere ceremonies of the law and attempting to keep from pollution, at the same time that
their hearts were filled with malice, and they were meditating the most enormous of all
crimes” (Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database © 1997, 2003, Biblesoft, Inc.).
-They first tried to get Pilate to participate with their plans without making any formal
accusations against Jesus. It seems that Pilate would simply go along with their wishes
in order to appease them. Ultimately, they would be correct.
-Luke 23:2 - Notice the false accusations that the Jewish leaders made against Jesus:
“misleading our nation,” “forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar,” “saying that he
himself is Christ, a king”
-The first is very vague and false. The second is an outright lie (render unto Caesar...).
Regarding the third, it is true that Jesus is the Christ and King. Yet, the Jews were
trying to present Jesus in this manner as a threat against the Romans.
-Pilate to the Jewish people: “I find no guilt in this man” (Luke 23:4).
-Luke 23:5 - They continue the accusations - mention Galilee - Jesus sent to Herod
-vs 10 - The chief priests and scribes vehemently accused Jesus.
-Jesus was treated with contempt, mocked and sent back to Pilate.
-Pilate, keeping with custom of releasing a prisoner at the Passover, offered to release Jesus.
Instead, the people demanded the release of Barabbas.
-Mark 15:6-15
-What about Jesus? - “Crucify him. Crucify him”
-Jesus is scourged - John 19:1-15
-It seems that Pilate was hopeful that seeing Jesus is such a condition would generate
a degree of mercy in the people toward Him. It did not. They would continue to
mock, deride and scorn Jesus has He hung before them on the cross.
-Pilate was determined to let Jesus go but the Jews threatened him - vs 12.
-Notice the Jews’ statement in vs 15 - “We have no king but Caesar” - What a pitiful
and revealing statement!
-Matt 27:24-26
-Summary and Invitation
-Of course, many important lessons could be gained from these verses that we have read.
1. process of sin - The Jewish nation & its leaders did not reach such depths of sin
overnight. Instead, it was a process that had developed over time.
-This is why we must take sin very seriously. It grows and spreads (1 Cor 5:6).
-That’s why we must strive to be “dead to sin” (Rom 6:2) in our mind, desire, purpose.
2. We think about the sinfulness of those Jewish leaders and wonder how they could do
such things. Yet, let’s remember that we, too, are guilty of sin. Let’s remember that
Jesus endured those things because of my sin and for my sin, too.
3. Heb 12:3 - When feeling down, discouraged, frustrated, etc., re-read these passages
and remember how much Jesus loves you and how much He has done and continues
to do for you.
-Allow that to be great motivation for you. Don’t grow weary or fainthearted.
Stay steadfast in your faithfulness to the Lord.
-What about you this morning? Have you responded to the sacrifice of Jesus through
obedience to the Gospel? If not, won’t you do so? If so, have you remained faithful?
If not, won’t you return to Him?