Apply Within

Bob Davis: There's the heart we're looking for. A heart that is so simple. And Jesus was brilliant. He's God in human flesh. So simple when it comes to the faith and the trust. My God's in control, and I'm going to trust Him. "You like what's happening to you?" "No, thank you. But I'm going to trust my God just the same."

"Are you kind of excited that it went this way?" "Not really." "What are you going to do?" "I'm going to trust God." What are you going to do? If you want that peace, just rest in God.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the Word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply His word within our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible. The Jews seek to crucify Jesus as our study of John continues in chapter 19, verse 12. Here's Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: Paul writes to all of us, every true believer, "Let every soul, each one of us, be submitted to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God." Even the Democrat sometimes, right? Or the Republican, whoever, whatever side you're not on. Do you understand that God still allows that power, right?

The powers that be are ordained of God. Verse two, Romans 13: "Whosoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation." All governments—and in the Greek "all" means "all"—all governments are ordained by God, and all authority, whether political or spiritual, comes from God. True?

The Bible says—I'll paraphrase it, but read through Proverbs and read through the Psalms when you get a chance—the Bible says that the countries are given the leaders that they deserve. Now think about that. Given the leaders they deserve, not that they asked for, but they're given the leaders that they deserve. So we think about the United States of America, and we say, the Christians—me and you—I'm not going to leave it to the non-believers, they don't know, but to everyone of us, we need to be praying for our country.

We need to be asking God for grace and mercy and wisdom and everything else for congressmen and women, and House of Representatives, and Supreme Courts, etc., and IRS people, everything, right? Because we're going to obey the authorities that are above us, because that's the thing to do. Jesus is God Almighty in human flesh, and He is respecting and obeying the authority that's over Him.

All He's saying is, "Yes, you do have the authority, but my Father gave it to you." In other words, "I'm listening to a higher authority here. You wouldn't have this if my Father didn't place you in this position." But He doesn't stop there. He says, "Therefore," or because of that, because we know that God is in this, "He that delivered me to you has the greater sin." What? Almost like it comes out of nowhere.

"Do you know I have the power and the authority to crucify you or to set you free?" "You would have no power unless my Father gave it to you. So I'm submitted to your authority and whatever you decide, that's what's going to happen to me. If you say I'm crucified, then I'm crucified. It's up to you, but my Father gave that to you." And so listen closely. "You're a Gentile. You have no idea what I'm talking about, Pilate. But he that delivered me to you, or that brought me in front of you, has the greater sin."

That says all kinds of things. I won't dwell on it too long, but think about it. Some say Jesus was referring to Judas. "He's got the greater sin than you do, Pilate." Some say, "No, it was Caiaphas, the high priest." Some say, "No, it was really the Jewish leaders together and the Jewish people who joined with them. Crucify!" Right? I think it was all those. I think that's what Jesus is referring to. All of those.

See, Pilate doesn't know the Bible. He doesn't know the Word of God. He doesn't know the promises of Messiah. He doesn't know what this Messiah junk is about. He just thinks the Jewish people are crazy. It's something to do with their religion. He doesn't even understand it. So you see, he's guilty, but listen closely, not as guilty as the Jews. Why? They know because they have the Scriptures, and they know Messiah is coming and they should have recognized Him and they didn't.

And we look back and go, "How could they have missed it?" And then look around us. These are the last days, the Bible describes it to us, and still people are arguing, "You really think we're in the last days?" "Have you read your Bible?" "Yeah." "Well, give it another look. You're missing it." Of all people, we should be the ones recognizing it. Why? Because we have the Word of God. Are we taking Him at His word?

So you see, Jesus says, "Caiaphas, the high priest—he's the high priest. He prays on behalf of the people every year at that holy high holy day, Yom Kippur. Judas, one of the disciples—not only did he grow up studying the Bible, but he walked with Jesus 24/7 for about three and a half years, day and night all the time, watching and listening. And the Jewish leaders—not just the high priest, but the Jewish leaders, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Herodians and the doctors of the law and the scribes and the lawyers—all those were scholars of kinds. They knew the Word of God.

So Jesus' words make it clear that the Jews—not just Judas, not just Caiaphas, but all of the Jews—should have known better. Why? Well, they have the Scriptures, everyone. They were raised in the Scriptures, everyone. Little boys, I don't know what age now, but back in the day, 50, 70, 80 years ago, little boys started at three years old going to Hebrew school. The girls would wait a little longer because they were preparing and planning to be mommies, housewives and mommies, but they still sent them to school.

But the boys start at three to Hebrew school so they could learn their alphabet and write, right? And here they go. So they're in the Word of God starting at three years old, some of the girls five and six, etc., somewhere in there, and they're studying the Word and they're learning to grow up and be whatever they're going to be, etc. And if there's anyone who has no excuse, it would be those who have the Word of God and they're even reading in it and studying in it.

So you can always bring that down to us, right? The Old Testament Scriptures promised the coming of the Messiah. The Jewish people were expecting Him. They were looking for Him, and when He was right in front of their eyes, they rejected Him. They should have recognized their Messiah when He came. But the Bible says not that they couldn't see Him, but they refused to believe. They wouldn't see Him.

Some did receive the Lord, remember? Some did. Not many. Most people just said He was a nice guy and kind of weird, and they rejected Him as Messiah. This day the Jewish people are still blind. They still reject Jesus as their Messiah, but they are crying out to God to send the Messiah. They'll see Him come one day and then they will believe in Him, the Bible says. Well, this is another verse. There are quite a few.

I didn't go look them up for you, but I'll put them together for you. But there are quite a few verses, and this is another one, another one that proves once again that there are degrees of punishment, degrees of guilt. Remember, we're Christians. We're going to stand before the Bema judgment seat. First and Second Corinthians, you have to read them both together. We're going to stand before the Bema seat of Jesus Christ.

Well, if our sins are forgiven, what are we judged for? For our works, whether they were wood, hay, stubble, or gold, silver, and precious stones, right? And some of us are going to smell like smoke when we get into heaven because we're going to burn. Oof. Remember? There are degrees of rewards, and the Bible also teaches there are degrees of guilt, of suffering. Pilate was guilty, yes, but Caiaphas and Judas and all the Jewish people were more guilty, has the greater guilt.

Luke chapter 12, this is just one little spot, but Luke chapter 12 verses 47 and 48. I know you'll recognize this, but listen: "And that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him or her shall much be required. And to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."

Once I say I'm a Christian, alright, there's a little bit more responsibility put on me just by God Himself. Not pressure, not pressure. God loves me and He's merciful and He wants us to grow. But you see, that's why you hear me joke sometimes and say I'm a part of the Christian Mafia. I know too much to get out. I can't just stop walking away now. I just know more of the Word of God than I used to know 30 years ago.

And you're learning and you're growing too, and God will hold you accountable—not your sin, you're forgiven by grace through faith—but hold you accountable for what you do know. So you see, there are degrees of rewards, and there are degrees of those like Judas. The degree of his punishment would be greater than Pilate's because Pilate is completely ignorant, doesn't even know what's going on in front of him. Still just as guilty, true?

But you notice that some crimes get you life in prison, some crimes get you life—if they're felonies the right kind—get you life without parole, some crimes get you life until Jesus comes back. Or sometimes they're so serious they, in some states, get you the death penalty itself, true? But if you rob candy from the store, you usually get a slap on the wrist and a certain amount of a fine and you don't go to prison at all.

You might have to do some ugly like community service. That's punishment in America. That's what Christians are supposed to do all the time is community service, true? And we're so silly. "Going to have to catch me first." Yeah, okay. Alright, so let's go on. Just about done right here. Look at verse 12: "From thenceforth," or from that moment right there, after all Jesus had to say is, "You're guilty, but the ones that turned me over to you, that's the greater sin, more guilt."

From thenceforth, from that moment on, Pilate sought to release Him. He's been trying to get rid of Him. Now he's determined. "I'm going to get this guy out of here." But the Jews cried out, verse 12, saying, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaks against Caesar." When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth once again, sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.

Gabbatha means the pavement is elevated, a little bit higher, almost like the judge is sitting up a little bit on a higher desk than everybody else, right? And it was the preparation of the Passover about the sixth hour, and he said to the Jews, "Behold your king." But they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him." Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."

Then he delivered Jesus therefore unto them to be crucified, and they took Jesus and led Him away. Innocent three times. You're going to find they put the crime above the person's head written in a little on some parchment and they put the crime above the heads of each of the prisoners that are crucified. And His crime, all it says is, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." No crime. He's never accused of any crime and He was crucified.

Death penalty for nothing. Well, except it was for my sin and yours if you will receive it. Because Jesus is a gentleman and He won't beat you up and shake the spots off to you till you go, "Uncle, uncle! I'll receive you, I'll receive you. Get off, get off." He'll knock at the door of your heart, Revelation 3:20, and there's no doorknob on the outside. He'll knock, but you and I, we must open our own heart and invite Him.

He says, "Come to me and I'll give you rest. You'll find rest for your souls." And what do we say? "Give me that rest, Lord. I invite you to come into my heart." Right? Pilate is so desperate to let Jesus go free, but he's a coward. He won't just say, "I'm letting Him go free, and I don't really care how anybody feels about it." And you say, "Why is it going on this way?" Because it was God's will.

Isaiah 53: "It pleased God to bruise Him, to put Him to death, to let Him suffer." It pleased God. Why? Because He knew from that death, that shed blood and the death and the resurrection, there would be a body of Jesus Christ unheard of in the Old Testament, the body called the church, believers by grace through faith for all eternity. And you can be in there. All of us can be in that body.

Pilate's too weak to stand up. He's a coward. And they—he says, "I'm going to let Him go." "Hey, if you let this man go, you are certainly no friend of Caesar." And that's a threat, by the way. "Whosoever makes himself a king speaks directly against Caesar himself. Would you like us to tell Caesar what you've done by letting a criminal go free? We'll tattle if you want us to." Well, Pilate doesn't want that, does he? He's a coward.

Because Rome would crucify him. So Pilate shouts out once again, "Behold your king." They formally—when he said, "This is your king," he said it out loud, "This is your king." And what did they say? "We reject that king. We have no king but Caesar." What did Israel do? They rejected their Messiah out loud, publicly. "We don't want Him. That's not our Messiah." Still today many of them are saying the same thing.

And they're proud to announce it publicly. "We have no king but Caesar. God's not our king. We don't want Him as our king. We reject Him." Now He just slips in there—Mark mentions it, Luke and John here—John mentioned it and what he says is this: it was about the sixth hour. Okay, he is—John is talking from Roman standard time. Mark will say that Jesus is crucified at the third hour, but he was going with the Hebrew, with the Jewish time clock.

Okay, now the sixth hour for the Romans, you see at midnight and now the hours start over—1, 2, 3, 4, 5—so guess what time the sixth hour is? Good. 6 AM. Remember, He had trials all night, and because we've been reading it and I'm going slow, we're saying, "Man, this is taking days." No, it just went all night. Now at six in the morning right—he says about six. Okay, it could have been a little after, right? Whatever.

But about six, they took Jesus away to be crucified. So Roman time that would be 0600. He shouldn't have been crucified except it's what the Father wanted before the foundation of the world, before the world was created. God knew what mankind would do. He knew what Lucifer, Satan would do, and He made His plan before the world was even created, before there was anything called man and woman.

You see, God cannot learn. Not that He's not smart, but He knows everything. There is nothing to learn. Someone said to me recently once again—and Christian, see if you can get this because this is hard to grasp—they said, "Man, how's it going?" They said, "My week has been pitiful, and I let God down. I let God down." Ever heard anybody say that? Ever feel that? You don't have to raise your hand.

I let God down. You know how I've thought it too? "Lord, I let you down." You know there's one thing you can't do, and you can't tell God anything that He doesn't already know, true? You come up with this brilliant idea and you figured it out, you say, "God, I just found this formula and I got—" and God just smiles, pats you on the head, says, "Good for you, Bob."

You know another thing you can't do? You can't disappoint God. How's that possible? You can't do it. Why? Because He already knew you were going to do it before you were born. You're only disappointing you. And less and less the closer you get to the Lord, the less you're disappointed in you because you expect you to be stupid. You just start saying, "Lord, don't turn me loose on my own because I'll do something dumb or I'll say something."

Lord, He loves you. You have never surprised Him. You have never shocked Him where He goes, "I didn't plan on that! Bob, wait! Hold it! Freeze time!" You've never let God down. You see, He died for you and for me. But that doesn't mean we ought to run out and do stupid just because we can. We need a change of heart. Jesus isn't doing this because He needed to get to heaven.

He came from heaven to do this so that He could go back there and take you and me with Him. And anybody who would call upon the name of the Lord is saved. It's a heart, it's a heart, and that's what we want. That's why we go before the Lord and say, "This is how weak I am, Lord. This is me." We can confess our hearts to Him. Let's bow our heads together and just go before the Lord.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM. You can download today's message in its entirety at NorthCountryChapel.com/studies. That's NorthCountryChapel.com/studies.

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