(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Man, it was great to be here tonight. We've been talking about doing this literally for years about me coming and preaching on a Friday night and doing soul winning on Saturday, so I'm glad that it finally actually happened. We kept just kicking the can down the road. We finally set a date and put a ring on it, and here we are. And so thank you to everyone who came from all the surrounding states and all over the world. And so it's great to be here tonight with everybody. And tonight I'm preaching on the person in the Bible, Pontius Pilate, which is interesting because Pilate is mentioned by name 56 times in the Bible, which is probably surprising to you how many times he's mentioned. He's actually a very significant character, and he has the lion's share of a whole chapter in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. He's brought up over and over again. He's very significant, and I'm going to give four different lessons from Pontius Pilate from the four Gospels. So one lesson from Matthew, one lesson from Mark, one from Luke, and one from John. So first of all, who was Pontius Pilate? If you would flip over to Matthew, chapter 27, and while you're turning to Matthew 27, I'll read for you from Luke, chapter 3, verse 1. The Bible reads, now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, being governor of Judea, and Herod, being teatric, of Galilee. So in the Roman Empire, it was divided up into different provinces, and one of the provinces is called Judea, another province is called Galilee, and the guy who's in charge of Galilee is Herod, and the guy who's in charge of Judea is Pontius Pilate. So he's the governor of Judea. Look at verse 2 of Matthew 27. It says, when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. So this is the Roman governor of the region of Judea. Now lesson number one is going to be from the book of Matthew, and lesson number one is this, you cannot be neutral in the spiritual battle. See, Pilate was a guy who tried to be neutral. He was a wishy-washy guy. He was manipulated by the people around him. He didn't take a strong stand. He didn't do what was right, and he ended up being doomed and damned because of seeking to be neutral or agnostic or undecided. He's not really sure what he's gonna do. You cannot be neutral in the spiritual battle that we are all a part of, whether we like it or not. We're born into this world, and you know what? This world is created by God, and everything the Bible says was created for His pleasure. We are here for Him. We exist for Him. This world exists for Him. All things are and were created for God's pleasure. So you can't just have this attitude that Pilate had of, oh, I'm just not interested in religion. I don't really have a stance on this. I don't have a strong opinion. I'm just kind of neutral. What do you know? The people are saying this. He's saying this. Whatever. Now, let's jump into the story or Matthew 27 verse 11 says this. And Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, saying, art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, thou sayest. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered, nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, here is thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him, to never a word, insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly. Now at that feast, the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would, and they had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto him, whom will you that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus, which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. So Pontius Pilate wants to release Jesus, and this is going to come up over and over again in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Pontius Pilate sincerely wanted to release Jesus. And it wasn't just because Pontius Pilate is just this big softy, because if you remember back in Luke chapter 13 verse 1, it talked about how Pontius Pilate had mingled the blood of some of the Galileans with their sacrifices. So he had used cruelty in the past. He had definitely killed people, but when it came to Jesus, he wanted to let him go, and so he tries to come up with an idea of saying, well, you know, I typically release someone at the feast. Let's just make that Jesus. This will give me an excuse to release Jesus. So he knew that it was for envy that they had delivered him. So the Jews envied Jesus. Now stop and think about what envy means. Envy is when I desire something that belongs to someone else, or I desire their position, I desire their authority, I desire their money, I covet something of them. That is what envy is, and the Bible says that the Jews had delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate for envy. You know what that means? They want to be him. Stop and think about that. Isn't that a strange thing to envy Jesus? They envied Jesus. Why? Because remember how Jesus told that parable about the Jews, where he talked about the people who had the vineyard entrusted unto them. The master goes on a long journey, and the vineyard is entrusted to the husband men, and then he would send servants to collect the fruit of the vineyard, and they would kill some and beat others and whatever. And this pictured God sending the prophets to Israel, rising up early and sending them, and the prophets were persecuted and hated. But remember, last of all, he said, surely they'll reverence my son. So last of all, he sent his son. You remember the parable? And when they see the son coming, what do they say? Oh, this is the heir. Let us kill him, and let us seize on the inheritance. They wanted to become the heirs of that vineyard, and that's a picture of the Jews who killed Jesus. They want to inherit that inheritance. They want to be their own Messiah. They want to be their own Savior. In fact, if you talk to many Jews today, they'll actually tell you that they don't believe in a literal person that's going to come and be the Messiah. They say, well, we believe that the Jewish people will collectively be our own Messiah. I've heard that from the mouth of many Jews and rabbis that we interviewed and so forth. So they delivered him for envy. Pontius Pilate wants to let him go, and it says in verse 19, when he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man? For I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. Now, this is a warning from God. Obviously, it's not a coincidence that she had this dream and suffered many things in a dream. She's tossing and turning all night, having a bad night suffering, because Jesus is a just man, a righteous man, and her husband is about to condemn a righteous man to death. So the fact that she's tossing and turning and having this warning from God, this dream, because God did speak to people in the Bible through dreams, don't have anything to do with him. I have suffered many things in a dream because of him. That goes to show you that if Pilate makes the wrong decision here, he's going to be doomed. That's why a warning is needed, because bad things are going to happen to Pilate if he doesn't heed this warning if he condemns Jesus, which, of course, we know he's ultimately going to do. Look what the Bible says in verse 20. But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas! Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified! And the governor said, Why? What evil hath he done? But they cried out the more saying, Let him be crucified! When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, so notice Pilate wants to let him go. He's arguing with them. Why? What has he done wrong? When he saw that he could prevail nothing, but rather that a tumult was made, so it's turning into a riot. It's getting a little bit out of control. He took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. See ye to it. Then answered all the people and said, His blood be on us and on our children. Now go back to Deuteronomy chapter 21. And I'm going to show you that Pilate was not innocent of the blood of Jesus Christ. Pilate was guilty for condemning Jesus. He was not innocent. Now he goes through this whole song and dance where he brings water and washes his hands in front of everybody. And you know, we have that expression where we talk about somebody washing their hands of something, and he goes up and just publicly puts on this show of washing his hands saying, Well, I'm innocent of the blood of this. I'm free from the blood of this just person. Now just because he says that doesn't make it so. Let's go to the Bible and see if he was free of the blood of this just person. Of course, everything about the gospel, everything about Christ, it's all foreshadowed in the Old Testament, right? We've had all these sermons that I've been preaching lately at Faithful Word and other places about, you know, Jesus in the book of Genesis, Jesus in the book of Exodus, Jesus in the book of Leviticus. All throughout the Old Testament, everything's pointing to Jesus and everything somehow ties in or has significance with the gospel. So look, if you would, at Deuteronomy 21, and let's examine this idea of Pontius Pilate washing his hands. It says in verse 1 of Deuteronomy 21, If one be found slain in the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and here's the key, and it be not known who had slain him. So anyway, a dead body is found out in the wilderness and nobody knows who killed this guy. That's the scenario. Look at verse 6, and all the elders of that city that are next unto the slain man shall wash their hands, right? This is like what Pilate did. Wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley, and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood. You know, similar to what Pilate's trying to say, Well, I'm free from the blood of this just person. Our hands have not shed this blood, but watch this. Neither have our eyes seen it. Could Pilate say that? Could Pilate get up and say, Hey, I'm free from the blood of this just person. I didn't see it. I don't know who did it. Well, he knew exactly who did it. He ordered it. It was his soldiers who actually carried out the order. And then look what it says. They shall answer, Our hands have not shed this blood. Neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge, and the blood shall be forgiven them. You know what the implication here is? That if they don't go through this process, then the blood's not going to be forgiven them. In order to get this blood forgiven them, they have to at least search and inquire, try to figure out who committed the murder. And if they figure out who committed the murder, they have to punish that person. And that's how they'll put away the guilt of innocent blood. But if they don't know who did it, and they don't know who to punish, then they're going to sacrifice an animal instead, the heifer, and then they're going to wash their hands and say, Lord, we didn't do it. We don't know who did it. We didn't see it. Please forgive us. And then it says the blood shall be forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord. God does not pardon innocent blood. When innocent blood is shed, restitution has to be made. And so either it had to be made by punishing the killer, or they at least have to try to find him and at least say, hey, we don't know, and pray to the Lord and ask to be forgiven. But there were so many times when there was revival in Israel, but then God said in a certain place that he could not pardon the innocent blood that Manasseh shed. It didn't matter that Josiah had a big revival. He couldn't pardon the innocent blood that Josiah had shed. And, you know, America today is guilty of shedding innocent blood. Just the abortion holocaust alone, and not to mention all the other murders that take place in other parts of the world in the name of the United States of America, but just the abortion clinic alone. I mean, can the elders of the city really stand outside the abortion clinic and say, well, we don't know who killed these babies. We didn't see it. We didn't know what was going on. No, if it happens under their watch, they're guilty. You know, if we condone it, if we allow it, if we are okay with it, then we're guilty. Okay, now the Bible says, if you would flip back over to Matthew 27, the Bible says in Proverbs 24, 10, if thou faint in the day of adversity, thy day is small. If there's thy strength is small, if thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain, if thou sayest, behold, we knew it not, doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, did he not know it? And shall he not render to every man according to his works? The Bible says, we must deliver those that are drawn unto death that are ready to be slain. If it's in our power to deliver them, we can't just stand by and say, well, it's none of my business. It wasn't me. I'm just going to wash my hands of this. And look today, obviously there's nothing we can do today about our country murdering people in the Middle East. There's nothing that we can do today about the abortion doctors that are murdering babies because we don't have that power. We're not running the police force or the city or the state or the federal government to be able to step in and do that and stop that. But you know what we can do is stop the people around us who are all dying and going to hell. We can at least save them. And if we just sit back and let our neighbors go to hell and let our friends and family go to hell and just kind of say, well, that's on them. I mean, that's their fault. I'll just wash my hands of that. You know what? God wants us to step in and deliver those the Bible says that are drawn unto death and not to have this attitude to say, well, I don't know. I don't have anything to do with it. You cannot be neutral in the spiritual fight. Let me prove it to you. Jesus said, he that is not with me is against me. And you know what? Pilot, even though pilot halfheartedly tried to deliver Jesus. And even though pilot said some good things about Jesus, Oh, I find no fault in him. He said some nice things about Jesus. But at the end of the day, when the chips were down, he did not side with Jesus. He sided against Jesus and he was doomed and damned and he's burning in hell right now. He is burning in hell under our feet as we speak, because you cannot be neutral in the spiritual fight. To be neutral is to be on the devil's side. To be neutral is to be against the Lord Jesus Christ. And when it comes to soul winning, if you're not involved in soul winning, you know, it's not that you're just neutral. You're actually part of the problem because the Bible says he that is not with me is against me. And he that gathered not with me scatter it. So if you're not gathering with Christ, if you're not out there being a fisher of men, if you're not out there, sowing the seed and preaching the gospel and winning people to Christ, the Bible says you are a soul scatterer. You are scattering abroad. You just say, well, I'm just not affecting people either way. I'm not getting anybody saved, but I'm not dooming anybody either. Yeah, but is that what the Bible says? The Bible says he that gathers not with me, scatter it, scatter it. If you're a do nothing Christian, it's not just that you're not helping the cause of Christ, you're hurting the cause of Christ. To do nothing is to hurt the cause of Christ. It'd be like if you went to work and just did nothing. And you showed up to work, you clocked in and did nothing. You say, well, but I didn't mess up any jobs. Right? I mean, let's say you work at an electrical company and you just show up, clock in and just sit down and do nothing. Yeah, but I mean, I didn't damage anything. I didn't blow anything up. I didn't wire anything wrong. I didn't make any mistakes. To do nothing is to be a drain on the company. And you know what the Bible says? What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you. He said you are not your own. You're bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Your body belongs to God. Your spirit belongs to God. This whole world belongs to God. Your house, your town, every food that you put in your mouth, every drink that you drank came from God. It's owned by God. And God is the Lord of the universe. He is the boss. He is the master. And he says, son, go work today in my vineyard. And you just say, well, I will not. And you think you're a zero. You're not zero. You're a negative. Calling you a zero would be to give you a compliment. If you're a do nothing Christian, you wish you were a zero. You need to build up to the point where you can become a zero and then start getting in the positive. Because if you are a do nothing Christian, if you, and I don't care how many sermons you sit at home and listen to, I don't care how many chapters of the Bible that you read. If you don't actually do any work for Christ, if you're not gathering with Christ, if you're not reaching anybody, if you're not even preaching the gospel to anybody, if you're not even witnessing to anybody, you are scattering. You are a negative. You are not an asset, but you're not a wash. You're a liability. You are a liability to shame on you to be a liability to the cause of Christ. You cannot be neutral in the cause of Christ. If you're a saved Christian, you can't be neutral. You're either working for Christ or you are working against Christ. You are either growing and moving forward in your Christian life or you are moving backwards in your Christian life. There's no neutrality in this fight. And when it comes to the unsaved, if they say, well, I just have a neutral stance toward Christ. I don't believe in him, but I don't not believe in him. I don't know. I don't know. You know what? They're going to go to hell if that's what they are, if that's what they are. Right. So anyway, back to Matthew chapter 27, you know, pilot washes his hands, but that doesn't change. You know, you can sit there and wash your hands and say, well, it's not my fault that people are dying and going to hell. It's not my fault that people are doomed. I mean, people were doomed before I was born. They're going to be doomed after I'm gone. But you know what? You are not just sitting here in this world to live your own life for your own pleasure. You're here for God's pleasure. And if you're not doing the job that he has for you, then you are a liability to the cause of Christ. You can't be neutral in the spiritual battle. You're either fighting on the Lord's side or you're a shirker, a deserter, and you're a liability to the cause of Christ. So lesson number one is from Matthew. You can't be neutral. Pilot tried to be neutral, right? And, and, and look what ended up happening. Look at verse 26. What does he end up doing? Then released Hebrabus unto them, watch this, when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Now I don't believe that Pontius Pilate himself picked up a whip and actually did the beating. It's possible, but I think more likely his soldiers beat Jesus, but because he's giving the order, because he says, all right, now scourge Jesus, that's considered him scourging Jesus. Whether he physically did it or not, he's responsible for it. So here he goes from trying to be neutral and Mr. Well, why? What evil hath he done? Well, next thing you know, what's he doing? When the people talk to him, next thing you know, it's like, okay, now I'm going to scourge Jesus. He scourged Jesus and then he delivered him to be crucified. Look at verse number 27. Then the soldiers of the governor. So whose soldiers are these? They're Pilate soldiers. The soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand. They bowed the knee before him and mocked him saying, Hail King of the Jews. And they spit upon him and took the reed and smote him on the head. And after that they had marked him. They took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on him and let him away to crucify him. Who's responsible for this according to the Bible? You know, God's holding the governor responsible. He's holding Pilate. He's saying, this is what the soldiers of the governor did. Pilate scourged him. Pilate delivered him to be crucified. That's when they beat him, spit on him, put the crown of thorns on his head, hit him in the head with a stick. And it was all Pilate's fault. It was the governor that commanded that according to scripture. Go to Mark chapter 15. Lesson number one is you can't be neutral in the spiritual battle. If you try to be neutral, you end up harming Christ, harming the cause of Christ. You end up being a negative and a liability when you seek to be neutral. You must be gathering with Christ. You must be siding a hundred percent for Christ. You can't be half in and half out. But number two, the lesson that we learned from the book of Mark is you cannot please both man and God. So Pilate, number one, tried to be neutral, right? He tries to just wash his hands. Isn't that neutrality? I'm not going to stop you from killing Jesus, but I don't want to be responsible for killing Jesus. Even though I'm going to give the order, let me just wash my hands and say, well, I'm innocent. I'm free. I'm only doing it because you told me to. He's trying to ride the fence there and be neutral. You can't be neutral, number one. But number two, you cannot please both man and God. Look at Mark chapter 15 verse 14. Then Pilate said unto them, why? What evil hath he done? Remember that from Matthew? And they cried out the more exceedingly crucify him. And so Pilate, watch this, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified. So why did Pilate deliver and be crucified when Pilate wanted to let him go? In the book of Acts, it says Pilate was determined to let him go because he wanted to content the people. He did it to make people happy. And when you start making decisions based on what people want instead of what's right, okay, you end up being doomed and damned. You can't please both God and man. You have to do what's right. It doesn't matter what people say. It doesn't matter what people think. It doesn't matter who will applaud you if you do what's wrong or condemn you if you do what's right. You have to do what's right and not care what people think about it because you can't please both God and man. Galatians chapter one, verse 10 is such a powerful verse. It says, for do I now persuade man or God or do I seek to please men? And this is a profound statement for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. You can either please man or be the servant of Jesus Christ. You can't serve two masters. You cannot make people happy and make God happy. You have to choose. Are we going to serve God or are we going to do what's popular, what people want? And Pilate made the wrong choice. He went with what was popular. He did what people wanted. He tried to please man instead of pleasing God. Go to Luke chapter 23. Luke chapter number 23. So number one, we saw from Matthew, you cannot be neutral in the spiritual battle. Number two, we saw from Mark, you cannot please both God and man. You're going to have to pick who you want to please in this life. You want to please your family and your friends and the people who are going to lift you up and exalt you in this world or are you going to please God because you cannot please both. And then number three, the lesson from Luke is this. Compromise is the devil's doctrine and friendship with the world is enmity with God. Compromise is the devil's doctrine and friendship with the world is enmity with God. And this we see exemplified by Pilate in the book of Luke. Go to Luke 23 verse one. And the whole multitude of them arose and led him unto Pilate 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 the King. And Pilate asked him saying, art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, thou sayest it. Now, why does Christ give this answer? Why does he say, thou sayest it? Why doesn't he just say yes or no? Have you ever wondered that? You know why he gives this answer? And I believe that the reason why he answers this way is simply that he wants other people to say this about him. He wants other people to pray. He can't say no because to say no would be a lie because of course Jesus Christ is the King of the Jews. Of course he is the King of Israel. That's crystal clear from the Bible, but he doesn't just want to say yes, I'm the King of the Jews because he's not singing his own praises. He's going as a lamb to the slaughter and he basically just says to him, well, thou sayest that I am. You decide. That's what you're saying. Now look what it says next. Pilate asked him saying, art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, thou sayest it, which is an affirmative answer. It's just a softer affirmative answer than saying yes. Verse four, then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man. So by condemning Jesus, he is committing a grave sin because he says three times, I find no fault in him. So to find no fault in him and to condemn him anyway is wicked. It's a governor's job if someone's innocent to free that person, to pardon that person, to get that person off the hook, to defend that person. I mean, why do governors exist? Are governors there just so they can live in a fancy house and eat good food and be lifted up and exalted and famous? No, they're there to punish the wicked and to defend the defenseless and to defend the innocent and to free the innocent. And he just says, well, I find no fault in him, but then he's going to turn around and do what? Condemn him. Turn around and scourge him and condemn him to be crucified. So he said, well, I find no fault in this man. And they were the more fierce saying, he stirred up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place. When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilean. And as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time. So basically, this is his easy way out. Pilate just wants to be neutral. He just wants to wash his hands of it. He wants to please man. And he doesn't want to do wrong. He doesn't want to do right. He's just kind of this half in half out guy. So basically, as soon as he hears that Jesus from Galilee, he's thinking to himself, this is my way out. You know, this is basically an easy out for me to just kind of throw this off on someone else. I'm just going to throw this on to King Herod, let Herod deal with it. This is a way for me to recuse myself. Okay. So he sends him to Herod. And it says in verse eight, when Herod saw Jesus. So Herod is in Jerusalem. So he doesn't have to go back to Galilee. I mean, Herod's right there. Boom. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Let's just send him to Herod. So 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. Then he questioned with him in many words, but he answered him nothing. And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him. And Herod with his men of war set him at naught and mocked him and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him again to Pilate. And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together, for before they were at enmity between themselves. So what we see here is that Herod is a reprobate. Okay. That's what's being pictured here by the fact that Jesus will not talk to him. Does this guy want to talk to Jesus? Does Herod want to talk to Jesus? Does Herod want to hear the gospel? Yeah. Herod had been wanting to hear from Jesus for a long time. Herod wants to see the miracles of Jesus. Herod wants to talk to Jesus. He wants to hear Jesus preach. Why did Jesus refuse to talk to him? I mean, why didn't Jesus just use this soul-winning opportunity that's just thrown right into his lap right here? I'll tell you why. Because he's not going to give that which is holy under the dogs. And he's not going to cast his pearls before swine. Herod already had his chance. You know what? Herod and Pilate are very similar. Remember, Herod is the teatric of Galilee. Teatric just means he's one of four rulers. So there's a list of four rulers ruling over four regions. Herod is one of them. Think of the game Tetris, right? Where you have little four groups of four blocks. Teatric. Ark is like the ruler, like monarch means there's one ruler, right? Mono, ark. So the teatric. Herod's the teatric of Galilee. Pilate's the governor of Judea. So these guys are in similar positions of authority under the Roman structure. And Herod is just further down the road to being doomed and damned. And Pilate's on that exact same road. Pilate is going down the exact same road as Herod. Herod is just further down that road. We can stop and think about Herod. Herod had John the Baptist come and preach to him. And he would go and literally visit John the Baptist in prison and listen to John the Baptist preach. And you know what? Herod liked John the Baptist. Sort of like Pilate, kind of like Jesus. You know, and Pilate said, yeah, you know, he's a just man. I find no fault in him. And Herod didn't want to kill John the Baptist, did he? Did Herod want to kill John the Baptist? No, the Bible is clear that Herod did not want to kill John the Baptist. And what ended up happening? The people around Herod ended up pressuring Herod into beheading John the Baptist, just like Pilate. What happens with Pilate? He gets pressured into killing Jesus. Do you see the parallel there? How people are pressuring Herod. And he's really sorry and sad. But what does he do? He does the wrong thing. He kills John the Baptist. And then, oh, Pilate's so sorry and sad. So, so, so sorry. But he still kills Jesus. Well, guess what? At the end of the day, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Oh, you're so, so sorry. But guess what? If you do wrong, you do wrong and you punish, you're punished for it. You can sit there and be sorry, and I'm so sorry, and all the people made me do it, and people pressured me, and I gave into peer pressure, and I'm so sorry, and I didn't want to do it. But guess what? You did it. And you know what? Herod, when he cut off John the Baptist's head, you know what he was doing? He was silencing the voice of God in his life. That was the man that God sent to preach the word of God to him. God didn't send Jesus. He sent John the Baptist to him. Jesus had people that he was sent to, but you know who was specifically sent to Herod was John the Baptist. John the Baptist. You know, you don't get to pick who your messenger is from God. You know, if somebody's living in their house, and some soul winner knocks on their door and says, hi, I'm from Liberty Baptist Church in Rock Falls, Illinois, and I want to invite you to church. And if they reject you, you know who they're rejecting? When you say, hey, I want to show you from the Bible how you can be saved. Let me show you the gospel. When they reject the gospel from you, you know they're not rejecting you. They're rejecting Jesus. And to reject Jesus is to reject him that sent him. To reject Jesus is to reject God the Father, because he said, if they receive you, he that receiveth you, receiveth me. He that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me, God the Father. And so when you're out soul winning, and you're preaching, you know, you are God's ambassador. You are the messenger of God, just like John the Baptist was that messenger of God. And when Herod chopped off the head of John the Baptist, he sealed his fate. He was doomed at that point. God was done talking to him, because God sent John the Baptist. And when he silenced that voice, he's done at that point. Well, you know what, that's why when Jesus comes along, Jesus had nothing to say to him. If you're not going to listen to John the Baptist, well, then I have nothing to say to you, is basically what Jesus is doing here, by refusing to talk to him. So Herod and Pilate are two very similar characters. Herod is further down that road. It's too late for Herod in Luke 23, isn't it? It's too late for him. But is it too late for Pilate yet? It's not too late for Pilate. Pilate can still do the right thing. Pilate hasn't killed Jesus yet. Pilate's right there on the fence. Herod's already gone off the cliff. But Pilate is hanging in the balance here. And what is it that dooms Pilate is that he becomes buddies with a reprobate. He becomes buddies with a reprobate and seals his own fate and becomes doomed by teaming up with this reprobate. And now he goes down that same path that that reprobate's going, and he ends up doomed as Herod. Flip over to Acts chapter four. We're gonna come back to Luke 23, but flip over to Acts chapter four. And like I said, Pilate's a very significant character because Pilate is mentioned 56 times. That's a lot of mentions to get mentioned by name in the Bible. When you're mentioned 56 times, you are a key character in the Bible. God wants us to learn from Pilate. Otherwise, he wouldn't get so many verses in Matthew, so many verses in Mark, so many verses in Luke, so many verses in John. The hardest part of putting the sermon together was just cutting things out because I had just eight pages of scripture on Pilate. And I was just looking at it thinking, how can I get through all this material? How can this this be one sermon? I mean, there's eight pages about Pilate in the Bible. The Bible just goes on and on and on about this character. Why? Because it's important that we understand Pilate. And that's the point of this sermon tonight is to help you to understand Pilate. God wants us to know who Pilate is. He wants us to understand Pilate's downfall so that we don't be like Pilate. We need to learn from Pilate that number one, we cannot be neutral in the spiritual battle. We need to learn from Pilate that number two, you cannot please both man and God. You got to decide. And number three, we need to learn from Pilate that compromises the devil's doctrine. And we're going to get to that. And that friendship with the world is enmity with God. When you're friends with Herod, you just became the enemy of God because Herod's a reprobate. And if you're friends with Herod, well guess what? You're doomed now. Because what did the Bible say? Pilate and Herod were made friends together. Look what the Bible says in Acts 4 25, who by the mouth of thy servant David has said, why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. Now when the Bible says the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ, who are those rulers that were gathered together against the Lord? Who were they? Those two rulers are Herod and Pilate. Herod and Pilate became friends. And by Herod and Pilate becoming friends, what did they both do? They both had their soldiers beat up and make fun of Jesus. They both condemned Jesus to be killed. Neither of them interceded for him. And to not free him is to slay him because you cannot be neutral in the spiritual battle when it comes to Jesus. And so obviously this has an end times fulfillment of all the rulers of the earth coming together in a one world government with the Antichrist. That's the dual fulfillment in the future. But the initial fulfillment was the rulers took counsel together. Pilate and Herod became friends. Their enmity with Christ, their condemnation of Christ brought them together. Now look what the Bible says. The rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed, both Herod. Now what does both mean? Is both more than two or is it just two? Both. Both isn't three folks. Both is how many? Both is two. And what does the Bible say? For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate. So who are the rulers that take counsel together? It was both. Herod and Pontius Pilate proving that Psalm 2 was fulfilled by Herod and Pontius Pilate becoming friends over Jesus's dead body basically, ultimately. And then it says here also of course it says both Herod and Pontius Pilate then he has some other people you know with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together. But the initial both is two people. It's Pilate and Herod being buddies. And you know what that represents? It pictures the Jews and the Gentiles you know Herod representing the Jews and Pontius Pilate representing the Gentiles basically saying all right yep we're gonna both kill Jesus okay. We're gonna agree together to destroy Jesus. They're gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determine before to be done. So go back to Luke 23. So of course we emphasize the fact that the Jews killed Jesus because the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 that the Jews both killed Jesus and their own prophets. So of course the Jews killed Jesus but you know what the Gentiles killed Jesus too. It was this unholy alliance where the Jews convinced the Gentiles to kill Jesus. They're both guilty and I'm going to get to that later because of course Jesus says that the Jews are more guilty because he said him that delivered me unto you has the greater sin. So was Pilate in sin? Yes but the Jews had the greater sin but guess what they both had sin. The Romans killed Jesus too. It wasn't just the Jews that killed Jesus. It was the Jews and the Gentiles agreeing together to kill Jesus. And of course we know that all of mankind is condemned today without Christ. It's not just the Jews that are condemned, it's the Gentiles also. That's what the whole book of Romans teaches when in Romans chapter 1 he talks about the heathen being condemned and then in Romans chapter 2 he talks about the Jews being condemned and then in chapter 3 he explains that both are condemned and then he explains that's why we have to be saved by faith alone because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God whether they be Jew or Gentile they're both in sin. So the Bible says in Luke chapter 23 verse 13 and Pilate when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people said unto them you brought this man unto me as one that perverted the people and behold I have examined him before you have found no fault in this man touching those things where have you accused him no nor yet Herod for I sent you to him and lo nothing worthy of death is done to him so aren't he and Herod just two little peas in a pod they both find nothing wrong with Jesus they have nothing that they can convict him of there's no law that they can charge him with but they both beat him and make fun of him and they're both guilty and isn't it interesting how they become friends over Jesus boy hating Christ makes for some strange bedfellows doesn't it Pilate and Herod were enemies now they're buddies all of a sudden and it has to do with them coming together according to Psalm 2 against Christ so coming together against Christ unites people have you ever noticed how people who hate our church and hate your church and hate other good churches have you noticed how they become buddies with each other even though they seemingly have nothing in common have you noticed how all of a sudden just just haters of pastor Anderson unite haters of faith forward baptist church unite have you noticed that haters of bible believing preaching unite it doesn't matter whether you're oneness it doesn't matter whether you're a sexual pervert it doesn't matter whether you are this heretic or that heretic if you're thrown out of church if you hate pastor Anderson well it's like you're all buddies and you're part of this online community of people who hate pastor Anderson why because of the fact that I'm preaching the bible they don't hate me folks they don't hate me because I'm me okay you know why they hate me because I'm preaching the truth what is it about me I mean what do they hate about me personally do they do they hate the fact that you know I have brown hair and brown eyes do they hate me for being white do they hate me for being 37 years old no do they hate me because I like running do they hate me because I like to eat uh you know greek food why do they hate me folks they hate me because I preach against the sodomites did I make that up no I'm just preaching what the bible says they hate me because I'm preaching hard on the trinity and exposing oneness for the damnable heresy that it is did I invent the doctrine of the trinity no I didn't why do people hate me they hate me because I teach the post-trib pre-rath rapture I didn't make that up folks none of the doctrines that I preach is unique to me you know this week people have been hating me because I preached a sermon against women's rights and was preaching against feminism and this facebook page occupy democrats shared a clip of me preaching so just all day I'm getting voicemails just you blankety blank blank blank you know I I get I get my voicemails turned into a text and it's just all these stars you know what I mean just all they're just you know it's just like everybody just dropping all these f-bombs on me right and left folks do they hate me because they actually sat down with me and got to know me and hung out with me and spent time with me and they just said I don't like that guy's personality no what they don't like is the preaching of God's word none of it is unique to me you know what I'm not I'm not a trailblazer either brother McMurtry because guess what everything I'm preaching is old you know they call us the new ifb it's old everything I preach is old well you know I've just never seen this exact combination of doctrines though well okay I mean that that's like saying that you know I mean I don't know what I I'm failing for an illustration here it's like well I've never seen that exact well you know what I've never seen a snowflake exactly like this before it's like well guess what did you know that every person is different every human being that's ever lived is different no two people are exactly alike are they so guess what no two churches are exactly alike so you you're never going to find two preachers that agree on every single thing I mean if pastor McMurtry and I sat down and talked about the bible for hours and hours we're not going to agree on everything if me and pastor Jimenez or me and pastor Jonathan Shelley or any of our other friends pastor Michael Johnson if we sat down and talked about the bible we're all going to dis you're never going to find the exact combination of doctrines in two people you know so well pastor Anderson is just you know he's mixing doctrines that we've never seen mixed before every preacher studies the bible and he gets some things right and he gets some things wrong and so you're never going to find somebody who's perfect doctrinally so you're never going to find somebody who's right about everything and so therefore every preacher is going to have a little bit different mix of doctrines now obviously the essentials are non-negotiable you know we need to have salvation by faith we need to have the trinity we need to have the bible be the final authority but to sit there and say well pastor Anderson this guy came out last week and said that our church is a cult because it's this new mix of doctrines and he shows a list of stuff that we believe in he's like you've never seen this exact mix in a fundamental baptist what did you oh so the whole world is just fundamental baptists or is that i guess the only people that are saved are fundamental baptists right is that true no there are people that are saved that are not fundamental baptists and so to sit there and say well we can't find any other fundamental baptists that have this exact list of doctrines of being poster well guess what we can't find any pre-trib or fundamental baptists before 1830 and you know what almost no baptists were preached were pre-trib before the 20th century because that's when the Schofield reference bible really started to spread that doctrine that caught on in the early 20th century and you know what just because preachers are are pre-trib it doesn't mean that we can't love them and think that they're great preachers for the other things that they get right and look don't get this attitude that says oh everybody has to be in lockstep with pastor Anderson on everything or else you know they're a bad preacher that's stupid folks and so what is the point that i'm making here it's like oh you know this exact mix of doctrine look everything that i preach folks is old you say what come i would love for somebody to show me what new doctrine i've come up with or what doctrine is unique to our movement well you guys are against birth control there are billions of people in this world that are against birth control there are millions of people in america against birth control do you really think that i'm the only one who preached that i heard that preached from someone else you know and constantly when people come up to me and compliment me on a sermon i always say yeah you know what i got that from this preacher i heard that when i was a teenager somebody came up to me the other day when i was preaching about jesus washing the disciples feet and i expounded that doctrine of where of of of of uh it being about the gospel where he says you know he whose feet are washed is clean every wit and people were coming up to me saying wow i've never thought of that that's so interesting and i said yeah i heard that when i was a teenager at regency baptist church from pastor nickels and you know what i'm sure he heard it from someone else you know what folks there's nothing that i preach that i came up with that i made up i didn't come up with post-trip rapture i didn't come up with any of it you know what there's nothing new under the sun and if all believers have the same holy spirit and the same bible all of these things have all been preached everything that i preach has already been preached so when people hate me it's not that they hate me folks because if you can find somebody that's totally different than me what if there was a me who instead of being white with brown what if instead of being me he was a little shorter what if instead of being me he's a little bit younger what if instead of being me he actually shined his shoes and wore a nice suit what if instead of being me he was actually a nice guy guess what that person exists and his name is roger hemenes and they hate him just as much as they hate me folks they don't hate me they hate christ they don't hate me because if they hated me then why do they hate roger hemenes who is like the opposite of me in almost every way brother hemenes is nothing like me if you know us both we are nothing alike we're totally different i mean he literally has his sermons charted out for the whole year he knows what he's preaching for the rest of 2019 i don't even know what i'm preaching tomorrow morning i don't even know what i'm preaching on sunday morning or sunday night he and i are nothing alike he and i are polar opposites and you know what when he got up and preached hard against the sodomites did they did they give him a pass because no because it has nothing to do with me it has to do with hating the truth has to do with hating the gospel and you know what so i don't take it personally when i get all that you stupid you know what i just take all that and just point it right up where it belongs because you know who they're really cursing is god because you know what it's god who said i suffer not a woman to teach nor do you serve authority over the man to be but to me in silence so if they're going you stupid you're saying women shouldn't be in authority you know you're saying women should obey their husband folks i don't take that personally for one second because it's not directed at me because i didn't write the bible you said the sodomites should be killed you stupid son of a guess what who is it that said that the sodomites should be i didn't write leviticus did i write leviticus chapter 20 verse 13 no well they just hate you pastor no no no friend that's not why they hate me they don't even know me they've never even met me they've never hung out with me they don't know what i'm like because when i get up behind the pulpit i'm not representing myself i'm getting up behind the pulpit representing the lord and preaching what god has said in his bible and well but you're mean about it well brother jimenez is nice about it and you know what they hate him just as much because it doesn't matter whether you're nice about it or mean about it it doesn't matter whether your suit fits or it doesn't fit whether it's nice or from the thrift store whether your shoes are shine or not it doesn't really matter because they're gonna hate you either way folks why it's the truth that they hate and you know what one day the whole world's gonna unite against the lord and against his christ and so look when you're out soul winning and people reject you don't take it personally they don't hate you they don't even know you they hate jesus they hate the lord they're rejecting christ they're not rejecting you okay oh you think you're jesus no but i have the spirit of christ in me oh you think you're no but i'm preaching the word of christ why are you comparing yourself to jesus no but i am an ambassador for christ i mean look if the ambassador for a certain country walked into the united nations and everybody just beat the crap out of him right what is it because they don't like him what if an ambassador walked up nobody's even met the guy nobody even knows the guy's name and he represents north korea or something and let's say north korea had just done some other country dirty or something and the ambassador from south korea comes the ambassador from north korea and just beats the car out of him and just why it's not because that guy has done anything wrong it's that he represents north korea right or he represents whatever the point is folks we represent jesus christ and he said he that receiveth you receiveth me and you know what when i plan to go preach in a country and i'm and i and i flat out say hey i'm just coming to bring the gospel of jesus we're going to knock on doors and tell people how to get saved here's the gospel we preach and it's a biblical gospel and then the country says well you're not welcome here because you preach this other thing from the bible who are they rejecting you know at the end of the day they're rejecting the word and it wouldn't matter if i were a completely different person they would still hate me just as much if i said it nice or angrily it's not going to make a difference folks and so we see here that the world unites in their antagonism toward christ right pilot and harrod become buddies now what did i say about point three i said that compromise is the devil's doctrine and friendship with the world is enmity with god i refuse to compromise and i refuse to be a friend of the world you know why because i don't want to be like ponchis pilot look what the bible says in verse 16 of luke 23 i will therefore chastise him and release him now look at that is that a compromise or what i find no fault in him he's done absolutely nothing wrong but i'm going to go ahead and chastise him well that's justice isn't it i'm going to chastise him and release him isn't that what the world teaches compromise let's just compromise can't we just find some middle ground let's chastise him and release him well is he guilty or innocent folks but the world teaches this doctrine of compromise tolerance taking the middle path the middle road the bible says choose this day whom you will serve and we need to make a choice folks and if we stand for what's right we're going to be persecuted we're going to be hated we're not going to be friends with harrod i mean if pilot would have done the right thing here guess guess who else's friend he can't be he can't be caesar's friend because what did the jews tell him if you release jesus then you're not caesar's friend oh and then when he heard that he said okay well then let's condemn him then because i gotta be caesar's friend folks i'd rather be jesus's friend than caesar's friend and you know what friendship of the world is enmity with god okay and compromise is the devil's doctrine and if you're a no compromise preacher you're not going to be loved of this world you're going to be hated and you're going to be embroiled in a spiritual battle all the time i'm in a battle all the time i'm constantly uh fighting but that's because the bible said fight the good fight war good warfare i mean this is life and so we learned number one that you can't be neutral in the spiritual battle you want to be switzerland today but you can't you have to be in the fight on the side of jesus number two people want to please man and god you can't do it you gotta please god and not care what man thinks about you and of course they're gonna hate you and call you names and claim that you're teaching this unique mix of doctrine that we've never seen before even though everything that we're teaching everything that brother mcmertree teaches has been taught by thousands of people millions of people it's just it's all in the bible it's been here for two thousand years nothing none of it's new number two you can't please man and god number three compromises the devil's doctrine and friendship with the world is enmity with god pilot in luke wants to be a compromiser well let's chastise him and release him and let's go ahead and be buddies with harrod the reprobate well you're on a dark path buddy let's go to lesson four flip over if you would to john chapter 18 lesson number four from the book of john so we're taking a lesson from each of the four gospels on ponchos pilot matthew we learned that you can't be neutral remember he tried to wash his hands and just kind of be neutral and just say okay you guys you take him and crucify him yeah you go ahead and do it i don't want to be the one to do it i don't want to be responsible for it i'm not going to stop you from doing it but i don't want to be the one to do it i'm just going to wash my hands but he ends up doing it trying to be neutral right but he couldn't be neutral in the end was he really neutral or did he order his troops to beat him and crucify him so you try to be neutral you know where you end up being against christ neutrality equals opposition to christ not gathering with jesus equals scattering abroad number two you can't please man and god who do you end up you end up pleasing man and displeasing god that's what you end up doing that was from the book of mark and then for the book of luke we saw friendship with the world is enmity with god and compromise is the devil's doctrine where you're gonna scourge him and release him and you want to be buddies with people like harrod and caesar the book of john is really the most interesting though about pilot we get the most detail about pilot in the book of john and we learned lesson number four that being undecided or being agnostic eventually leads to damnation being undecided or agnostic leads to damnation and pilot is so much like america today just kind of half in half out watered down compromise well they're not a buddy they're not a reprobate but they're buddies with reprobates they're half in half out agnostic don't know don't care not interested folks you can't be neutral you can't say i don't care about religion you were put on this earth to please god not to just live your own life and do your own thing and say i'm not religious well if you're not religious then shame on you because god created you for his pleasure and worshiping the lord is a command it's not optional bible says in john 18 29 pilot went out unto them and said what accusation bring you against this man they answered and said unto him if you were not a malefactor we would not have delivered him up unto thee i love that statement so what's the accusation look if he weren't a criminal we wouldn't have brought him here and people have this attitude today like well he got arrested he must have done something wrong have you ever heard that argument before well if he hadn't done anything wrong he wouldn't have got arrested i mean he must be guilty of something right well if he weren't a malefactor we wouldn't have arrested him that's the answer to what he's done wrong then pilot said unto them well take him and judge him according to your law you know just kind of wash my hands the jews therefore said in him it's not lawful for us to put any man to death that the saying of jesus might be fulfilled which he spake signifying what death he should die because jesus talked about he was going to be lifted up from the earth when he died well that's crucifixion right where you're lifted up from the earth so for that prophecy to be fulfilled of psalm 22 they pierced my hands and my feet obviously he has to be crucified so therefore the romans had to do it so that's why they said well we can't do it you need to do it pilot then pilot entered into the judgment hall again and called jesus and said to them art thou the king of the jews jesus answered him sayest thou this thing of thyself or did others tell it thee of me like hey did you figure this out on your own or did somebody tell you that i'm the king of the jews look at pilot's answer am i a jew here's what he said well i'm not religious i i don't know anything about it all right what am i do folks you don't have to be a jew to worship the god of the bible you said be a human being and so he said well am i a jew thy own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me what has thou done what'd you do wrong jesus answered my kingdom's not of this world if my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight that i should not be delivered to the jews but now is my kingdom not from hence pilot therefore said unto him art thou a king then jesus answered thou sayest that i am a king to this end was i born and for this cause came i into the world that i should bear witness unto the truth everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice and you know what he's not talking about just jews he's saying everybody who's of the truth hears my voice including you pilot and look what he says next pilot says unto him what is truth and when he had said this he went out again under the jews so he doesn't seem to stick around for the answer he basically said you know well am i a jew it's your nation you know and jesus saying well everybody who's of the truth listens to me you know you should listen to what i'm saying you should listen to what i'm preaching and you know the truth pilot says well what is truth isn't that the kind of junk you'd expect to hear out of this kind of post-modern american idea of you know we're so enlightened we're so scientific and you know we're so philosophical well what is truth you know i mean how can we really know i mean we're just we're just we're not atheists but we're just agnostic what's an agnostic an agnostic is someone who says i don't know if there's a god and i think it's impossible for anybody to know and these agnostics come at you trying to be so smart well you know there's no evidence and if we don't see the evidence if we don't get to say the science you know then we're not going to believe in god isn't that what they say and they're agnostic and they well you know i'm not an atheist not an atheist i'm just agnostic well guess what there's not a separate compartment in hell for atheists and agnostics it's not like oh you're an agnostic not an atheist well you get to go to the first circle you know you're not going to go all the way down to the bottom of hell because you're not an atheist thank you for being agnostic instead of atheist folks you're going to hell if you're atheist you're going to hell if you're agnostic because not deciding is deciding being neutral is being against christ and so we see here that pilot says well what is truth you know i just don't know i just haven't seen the evidence i'm just not convinced i've been reading plato or whatever and so i don't even know what truth is and jesus is standing in front of him and jesus is the truth he's talking to the truth he's asking the truth what is truth and then jesus goes to tell him it's like what is truth see what what it you know what it comes out you know what the agnostic is he's willingly ignorant he's willingly ignorant he says i don't know and then he asks the question well what is the truth bye is the agnostic just ready to hear the gospel when we knock on his door typically typically when we knock on the door of the agnostic he says well what is truth bye i'm busy i'm having dinner bye i'm busy i'm not interested i'm not religious i'm not a jew you know what is truth walk away see you later that's willful ignorance pilot here has the truth right there jesus is willing to talk to him jesus is saying quite a bit to him here he doesn't care he's not interested he walks away because to be agnostic or undecided ultimately leads to the same damnation as atheism so it says in verse number i gotta hurry for sake of time but in uh chapter 19 verse 1 then pilot therefore took jesus and scourged him the soldiers platted a crown of thorns on and on jumped down to verse seven because at the end of verse six he said take him and crucify him for i find no fault in him the jews answered him we have a law and by our law he ought to die because he made himself the son of god when pilot therefore heard that saying he was the more afraid and went in again afraid and went in again under the judgment hall and saith unto jesus whence art thou but jesus gave him no answer then saith pilot unto him speakest thou not unto me well the last time you asked me a question you walked away and now i said god why won't you talk to me well you know what if you keep turning down god enough if you keep turning down christ enough eventually he stops talking to you hello harrod remember harrod pilot's getting close to that point so now it's getting the point where jesus talking to him less he's getting close to being doomed no it's that or not that i have power to crucify thee and have power to release thee jesus answered thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin remember the jews are guilty as well even more guilty and from thenceforth pilot sought to release him why because he's scared and you know what even the atheists and agnostic are scared they're scared of dying and going to hell whether they admit it or not they're they're afraid of dying they don't know what's going to happen when they die and it scares them but the jews cried out saying if thou let this man go thou are not caesar's friend whosoever making himself a king speaking against caesar when pilot therefore heard that saying he brought jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat and on and on for sake of time let's conclude in first timothy 6 where we started first timothy chapter 6 of course we know other things about pilot that he puts up the sign above jesus head that says this is jesus the king of the jews is written in three languages those languages are hebrew greek and latin which is very interesting i'm a big language guy i love foreign languages it's it's something that fascinates me and it's it's interesting those three languages hebrew greek and latin obviously you understand why greek is the language that everybody spoke i mean that was the main it was like the english of back then it was the lingua franca of the whole mediterranean world everybody spoke greek as a second language in that whole region that area so it's kind of a universal language of greek that's why the new testament is written in greek hebrew obviously because it's in judaea so for the jews benefit he puts it up there in hebrew and then in latin because the fact that that's the language of the roman empire it's the language of the roman soldiers and the governor pilot so he gets this sign above his head that says this is jesus king of the jews and you know what's interesting is that those are three important languages of the bible if you think about it because the bible was originally in hebrew in the old testament and then greek in the new testament and then for a long time the most common language for the bible to be printed in is latin and then obviously now it's the the fourth major language of the bible is english you know we have the bible the king james bible being you know all over the world and translated all over the world and english is of course the most significant language on our planet right now with you know about 2 billion people speaking it if you count people learning it as a second language and what's interesting is even if you look at the history of our alphabet the original alphabet comes from hebrew the aleph bet that's where we even get alphabet and then the the the finitions took it over to the greeks and so it goes from hebrew to greek the greek alphabet's based on the hebrew alphabet the latin alphabet is based on the greek alphabet and guess what alphabet we use in english we use the latin alphabet the letters that we use are called latin letters okay you say why are you bringing that up because of the fact that this message over the cross in hebrew greek and latin you know this kind of pictures the history of the bible hebrew greek latin and it also pictures the history of our alphabet from hebrew to greek to latin you know the purpose of language is to proclaim the fact that christ is king the purpose of the alphabet you know is so that we could have the bible right i mean what's the most important thing that's ever been written down is the bible that's why we have the alphabet today is to give us the bible you know it's interesting in in arizona we have the natives the navajos and you know when their writing system was invented in the 1930s and you know who gave them their writing system christian missionaries and you know why they gave them their alphabet in the navajo language so that they could read the bible everything is for christ everything is for god everything is to point us toward the bible and and that message this is jesus the king of the jews is a is a message of the truth above jesus notice it didn't say oh this is a bad person this man's guilty of crimes against the state this man you know so the jews man when they see that message they get mad when they see how pilot put that sign up they say we're writing not that he's the king of the jews right that he said that he was the king of the jews and what did pilot say well what i've written i've written i don't want to change it now but stop and think about this don't think for one second this is pilot believing in jesus or getting saved pilot's always a middle of the road guy pilot's always trying to be neutral and have it both ways pilot is not saved pilot did not buy what is damned friend you know what the fact that pilot put that sign above jesus head you know what that pictures that picture is that he knew the truth but that doesn't make him saved because you know what the bible talks about people in romans one who knew god and they glorified him not as god and you know what they became a reprobate and they became doomed and damned and you know what of course pilot said i find no fault in him i find no fault in him i find no fault in him holy holy holy of course Pontius pilot knew the truth but he didn't receive the truth he did not receive christ as savior in fact he did the opposite he beat mocked condemned and killed christ well but he said he's the king of the jews yeah but you know what he didn't say he's my personal savior he didn't trust christ to get him to heaven he didn't confess that jesus the son of god he knew god but he glorified him not as god king of the jews isn't son of god either did he put a sign above his head that said this is jesus the son of god no and by the way he knew jesus was the son of god because that's what the jews said he made himself the son of god and then pilots are going i better let this guy go who is this guy where'd this guy come from first timothy six let me close on this verse 13 i give thee charge in the sight of god who quickeneth all things and this is a powerful verse and before christ jesus watch this who before Pontius pilot witnessed a good confession now look what why is the bible tell why say that why bring that up how much you know almost 100 chapters later or whatever 80 90 chapters later why bring up the fact that christ jesus before Pontius pilot witnessed a good confession you know why because of the fact that jesus christ preached well enough to pilot where he should have listened he witnessed a good confession to pilot you know and and i'm sure that he probably said other things that are not recorded in the bible because the bible doesn't record everything that jesus said or did or the whole world wouldn't be able to contain the books that should be written we get excerpts from the conversation in matthew excerpts from luke excerpts from john okay whatever jesus said to pilot it was enough it was a good confession it was a good testimony it was good preaching it was powerful i mean when christ speaks it's powerful and pilot had every chance to be saved he had his wife warning him he had christ warning him he had the jews warning him until he said he's the son of god you know he said he's the king of the jews he had every chance and you know what he's in hell today because he feared man more than god he feared caesar he tried to be neutral he tried to have a both ways he followed the doctrine of compromise he was a friend of the world he was an agnostic he was undecided and you know what he became reprobate he became doomed he became damned and did you know that every single unsaved person becomes reprobate eventually because if you die and breathe your last breath without accepting christ as your savior you're a reprobate now because hell is a giant trash can for reprobates and you know what can people get saved after they die i mean if somebody dies without jesus do they get a second chance in hell to get out of hell then you know what that makes them rejected you know what that makes them reprobate rejected folks you can be nice you can say nice things about jesus you can say he's the king of the jews you can say well i don't find any fault in him you know how many times have i gone soul winning and knocked on somebody's door have you ever heard this before brother mcmert i've heard this before have you ever heard this when you knock on somebody's door they say well i don't think there's anything wrong with what you guys are doing have you ever heard that answer i don't think there's anything wrong with it oh well thank you well i don't yeah i don't i mean i'm not against you guys i got nothing against you guys i don't think there's anything wrong with what you're doing well you do know for sure you're going to heaven no i don't know i'm undecided i'm agnostic well can i show you from the bible no i'm not interested i don't think there's anything wrong with what you're doing someday oh god i i was nice when they came to my door god i was so nice i didn't find any fault in them i didn't see anything wrong with them but did you get saved though did you fall on your knees and cry out to christ to save you did you worship the lord the creator of the universe no you just went on your merry way and you just washed your hands and said well i don't know i'm not a jew i'm not religious i'm not a christian i don't know i don't care i you know whatever well god will judge me okay i'll judge you then you're going to hell folks christ jesus witnessed a good confession to ponchus pilot don't be a pilot if you're not saved today if you're here tonight and you're not saved well but you know i'm interested so was pilot well i'm interested so was harrod harrod was interested well i don't think there's anything wrong with it well neither did pilot and you know what god can turn you into a reprobate whenever he wants whenever he gets sick of you saying no whenever he gets sick of you ignoring him whenever he gets sick of you rejecting the preaching of god's word whenever he gets sick of you resisting the truth and he could do that one of two ways number one he could cause you to die in your sleep tonight and then you'll be a reprobate doomed forever he could cause you to die on the way home he could cause you to fall over dead right now while i'm preaching he holds your breath in his head that's method number one that he could turn you into a reprobate or number two he could harden your heart and blind your eyes and turn away your ears from hearing the truth and he will just never talk to you again and you'll sit in church and he won't talk to you and you know what there are people who sit in a church service and i get up and i preach god's word and god speaks to their heart and they come to liberty baptist and brother mcmertree preaches to them and god speaks to their heart through the preaching of his word and there are other people who sit there and they listen to the exact same sermon and god doesn't speak to them at all god speaking to you is a privilege and god once god takes that away from you if god's not drawing you if god's not speaking you you're done even if you're still alive you're just a dead man walking you're done so if you're not saved don't be a pilot if you're not saved you need to come and grab me or brother mcmertree or someone else here and beg them to show you how to be saved immediately and you need to get saved tonight and then you need to get baptized to obey christ but not to go to heaven obviously you you don't need to be baptized to be saved but you know what you need to get saved and you need to get baptized and you need to spend the rest of your life glorifying god and let me tell you something if you're already saved which i know i'm preaching to people tonight that are 95 saved tonight okay if you're saved tonight and you're here listening to my preaching you know what you don't want to be like pilot either because you don't want to be a saved version of pilot that says well i'm not going to get involved in the fighting well i'm saved but i'm not going to get into fighting you know i'm not going to go soul winning soul winning is not my thing or you know what i'm just going to live my life i'm not hurting anybody you're scattering don't try to be neutral don't try to please man because you know what christians can make a lot of these same mistakes where they try to please man where they try to compromise and be a friend of the world and hey don't hang around with reprobates if you have a herit in your life stay away from them so folks pilot mentioned 56 times is the bad example for unbeliever and believer alike don't be a Pontius pilot as far as an upward prayer father we thank you so much for your word lord and we thank you for your messengers lord that you give us to preach your word whether it be brother mcmurtry or whether it be brother Jimenez or whether it be brother johnson just whoever whoever comes along and preaches your word lord thank you thank you for the soul winners that that got us saved thank you for my mom that won me to christ when i was a little boy thank you for all the sunday school teachers and preachers that have preached to me my whole life and and made me who i am and gave me all the doctrines and bible uh that i know and that i've learned and that i've been assured of lord god i pray that every single person here today would get all the way on the lord's side not to halt between two opinions not to be on the sidelines not to be switzerland not to be neutral not to say well i'll let somebody else fight the battles lord i pray that every christian that's here tonight would decide you know what i'm going to be on the lord's side i'm going to be all the way in i'm going to be a hundred percent for the lord jesus christ and nuts to this world i don't care about pleasing them i don't care about being buddies with the world i want to be the friend of god lord help every person to be inspired by your word tonight to make that decision in jesus name we pray amen amen