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Amen. All right. Matthew chapter 27. So of course, Matthew 27, talking about continuing the story here, Matthew 27 is talking about telling the story of the trial and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. So it's obviously a long chapter. There's a lot in it. So we're going to focus on the trial of Jesus for this evening. And then next week, we will go through the rest of the chapter. So the trial of Jesus Christ is an interesting situation. He's brought to the Roman government by the Jewish leaders that have arrested him. You know, Judas has betrayed him. Judas was paid 30 pieces of silver, and then he betrayed Jesus. And of course, they came and they got Jesus after he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. They came and they arrested him at night, of course, to avoid the crowds and avoid the people because they were afraid of the people. And Jesus even made mention of that when they did arrest him. So let's go ahead and just look at the trial of Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 27 this evening. Look at Matthew 27, verse number one. The Bible says, when the morning was come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. And of course, after Jesus was brought before Caiaphas, and they found false witnesses to testify against Jesus, he said they misunderstood what he was talking about, destroying the temple. And of course, then Jesus basically just said that he was God and that they didn't really need false witnesses because they just wanted to know what Jesus, who he said he was, and he did tell them. So they obviously wanted to kill him at that point. So they have a problem because they can't execute people according to their law. So they take him to the Roman government. And the verse number two says that when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him onto Pontius Pilate, the governor. So here we see this guy named Pontius Pilate. So who was Pontius Pilate? I want to take a few minutes and I want to look at who this was, and we're going to look at the other accounts in the Gospels because we have many other accounts of the trials of Jesus in Mark, John, and Luke. All three Gospels talk about this. So turn to Mark chapter 15. So we see that they brought him to Pontius Pilate, the governor of the land. So basically the way this works was, of course, the Jewish people were under rule of the Roman Empire. So the Romans were ruling over the Jewish people. And the Roman ruler, the Roman governor of this area, of Jerusalem, was this man named Pontius Pilate. Turn to Mark chapter 15. Look at Mark chapter 15 and verse number one. We see another side of this story. That's the nice thing about the Gospels is every different Gospel account will give us a little bit more detail about the event. So if you take them all together, you can get the full picture of what happened. Look at Mark 15 one. And straight away in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council and bound Jesus and carried him away and delivered him to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, Art thou the king of the Jews? And he answering, saying unto them, Thou sayest it. So this is Jesus again saying, you know, basically, you said it. You know, you said it. I am the king of the Jews. And the chief priests accused him of many things, but he answered nothing. So he's done talking to them. And Pilate asked again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? Behold how many things they witness against thee. Now you'll see this throughout Pilate's questioning of Jesus. He's actually just kind of shocked that Jesus isn't really saying more than he actually is. Because here he sees Jesus that is in this, you know, what he considers it to be a pretty bad situation, and he's not speaking out against his accusers. And then Pilate asked him again, well, in verse number five, sorry, but Jesus yet answered nothing so that Pilate marveled. You know, Pilate was surprised. He's looking at this from a worldly perspective. He's surprised. He's like, why isn't this guy defending himself? Look down at verse number nine. But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews? For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy. So look, he's mocking the Jews here. So this is the first hint that Pilate, you know, he's a Roman, all right, he doesn't have any respect for the Jewish leaders. So I want to point that out, because it becomes, you know, kind of an interesting point as we go through the story about Pontius Pilate, why he did some of the things that he did. But the first thing I want to point out is he had zero respect for these Jews. He's like, would you not that I release your king to you? You know, he's basically saying that, and remember the sign that he even puts over, you know, Jesus is the Jews didn't like that. They didn't like when he put the sign, you know, the king of the Jews, he put it in several different languages. He was sticking it to the Jews. He did not like the Jews. And he was he was mocking them here. All right, look at verse number 11 says he knew that they just delivered this guy to him because they were jealous and they're envious of him envious is the right word. But the chief priests moved the people that he should rather release Barabbas unto them. So of course, there's a tradition during the Passover that the Roman government would release a prisoner to the Jewish people. So he asked them, he's, you know, Pilate is kind of trying to get himself out of this thing from the beginning. You know, he knows that Jesus is not worthy of anything. He's not he's not done anything wrong. It doesn't take him long to figure that out. And he wants to release, you know, a prisoner to them and he wants to release Jesus. But he says, Would you rather me release Barabbas, who's a well known criminal to them? And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will you then that I shall do unto him who you call the king of the Jews? And they cried out again, crucify him. Then Pilate said unto them, Why? What evil hath he done? And they cried out more exceedingly, crucify him. And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them and deliver Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified. So look, turn to Luke chapter 23, let's look at another account. Pilate, it is very clear that Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. He knew Jesus was innocent of the things that he was being accused of. Look at look at Luke chapter number 23. It says in verse 25 of Mark 15, that he was willing to content the people. So remember that as well, when we look at who Pontius Pilate was. Look at Luke 23, verse number one, the Bible says in the whole, this is another account of the same situation, 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. Is that true? I mean twice they tried to get Jesus on taxes, and he said, just pay the stupid taxes. Saying that he himself is Christ a king, and Pilate asked him saying, Art thou the king of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it. Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man. And when they were more fierce, saying, He stirreth 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 unto Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at the time. So here, Pilate, his ears just perk up when they say Galilee, because here he knows that there's this ruler, there's this Jewish king that actually has jurisdiction over Galilee. So here, Pilate, you know, he doesn't care about this situation, but he knows the man is innocent. He just wants this melee to go away. He wants to content the people. He doesn't want an uprising, he doesn't want an uproar of any kind. And so he hears that, you know, he heard of Galilee, and his ears perk up, and it just happens that the leader, the Jewish leader of Galilee is here. He's in town. It's like, he's in Fresno. It's like, perfect. So he sends them off, he sent him to Herod, who himself was at Jerusalem at the time. Look, he's just trying to get out of this situation. So he sends Jesus to Herod, and Herod, you know, ironically, Herod, we're not gonna study it out, but Herod, you know, he wanted to see Jesus. This is the same Herod that killed John the Baptist. He wanted to see Jesus. He wanted to see a miracle. He heard about all this. You know, he wanted to see a magic trick. That's what he wanted to see. Look at verse 11. 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 here, you know, Herod and Pilate, so Jesus goes to Herod, Herod mocks him, asks him a few questions, and, you know, Jesus doesn't say anything to Herod, and Herod finds no fault in him either. They make fun of him. They mock, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ, and they send him back to Pilate. So the problem comes back to Pilate. But here, Pilate, we see, he's a politician. He strikes an alliance out of this deal. He at least, you know, makes friends with Herod. And you know, look, Pilate was, he was a simple politician, is basically what we're seeing here, plain and simple. He could care less about justice. You know, I mean, that's turned to Romans chapter 13. That's the, I mean, the more things change, the more they stay the same. I mean, that's the problem with governors today. I mean, our governor of this state actually, like, legalized pedophilia this week. Did you know that? Did you know that they lowered, you know, the age of consent for, you know, homosexual acts against children in this state this week? I mean, what is going on? I mean, this is not what leaders are supposed to do. Look at Romans 13. The Bible says in Romans 13, one, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. What's the point of the powers of the government? Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works. You see, rulers are not supposed to be against good works. Rulers but to the evil. So we have rulers in this country, in this state, that are literally for evil. That's what we have. We have evil rulers is what's going on. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shall have praise in the same. So the Bible here is not only defining, you know, it not only defines how we should, you know, be towards human government, but it defines the point of human government. The human government is supposed to be a terror to the evil. A terror to the evil. Right? And it says we're supposed to be subject to the higher powers. So when the human government becomes evil, we are not subject to that. You see, because we're subject to God. All right? So look, Pilate is a politician. He could care less about justice just like politicians today. It's the same thing. The more things change, the more they stay the same. So I mean, that's obviously not where it's at today, you know, for, you know, the rulers being a terror to good, you know, a good to good work. They are a terror to good works. Look at John chapter 18. Let's continue. Look at John chapter 18. I mean, I don't even like I mean, I don't even really think we should talk about these like wicked things. But how can you not mention these things? I mean, it's crazy. I mean, there is is there any morality anymore? I mean, is there any right and wrong anymore? This is what happens when there is no truth, which is what we'll talk about at the end of the sermon. Look at John chapter 18, in verse number 33, then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, say, say, if thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it the of me? So Jesus answers him and says, Where did you hear this, basically is what he says. Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Here you see again, you know, Pilate's disdain for the Jews. So he's saying, you know, Pilate's just saying, Are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus is like, Who told you this? Where did you learn that I was king of the Jews? He's like, Am I a Jew? You know, I mean, he just has no respect for the Jews. What could he says? Jesus says in verse number 11, Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me. But Pilate saith unto him, I'm sorry, in verse number 10, Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest now that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Now Jesus just straight up tells them, you know, 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. So number one, Pilate's messing up here, Pilate's sinning here, no doubt. But he tells the governor here, he says, Look, the people that delivered, that delivered you, delivered me to you are in way more trouble than you are. And you have zero power over me. I mean, Jesus knows what's going on. This is prophecy being fulfilled. Jesus is fulfilling his whole purpose of coming to earth, his whole purpose of everything. Look at verse 12, And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou are not Caesar's friend. Whoa! Whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Caesar. This is ultimately the reason right here that Pilate gives in. Pilate was trying to release Jesus. I mean, look, but he's ultimately not going to risk his own career, his own standing, his own political future. He's not willing to do it. Look, he had no respect for the Jews. We see that. He was politically motivated as he, you know, made, used this opportunity to make an alliance with Herod, make friends with Herod. But then they threatened to rat him out to the king, to Caesar. And he's like, that's as far as I'm taking this thing. That's as far as his justice goes. And he knew Jesus was innocent, but it just, it just was not his concern to that point. His concern was his own future, Pilate, his political standing, his position. Go back to Matthew chapter 27, we're only two verses in. Matthew 27, look at verse number three. Then Judas, which had betrayed him when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself and brought again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, a little too late, buddy, saying, I have sinned and that we have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, what is that to us? Seest thou to that? And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, it is not lawful for to put them into the treasury because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel and they brought him, they bought with it the potter's field to bury strangers in, wherefore that field was called the field of blood unto this day. Then was fulfilled, that was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, and they took 30 pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did very value, that of course, that prophecy from the Old Testament, and he gave for them the potter's field as the Lord appointed me. And Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, saying, art thou the king of the Jews, and Jesus saith unto them, thou sayest. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered, nothing. Once again we see Pilate was surprised. Then Pilate said unto him, hearest thou not, how many things they witness against thee? And he answered to him, never a word, insomuch that the governor marveled greatly. Now at the feast, the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. And they had a notable prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, whom will ye that I release unto you, Barabbas, or Jesus, which is called Christ? So this is kind of his first way of trying to get out of it here, is he wants to just say, okay, you know, maybe I'll just be able to release Jesus instead of Barabbas. For he knew that for envy that he had delivered him. He knew that Jesus was innocent and that they only just hated him because he was, you know, drawing the people to him and away from themselves. Verse 19, when he was set down on the judgment seat, now this is interesting, his wife sent unto him, and this is why I believe that, you know, Pilate also actually tried a little bit to, you know, convince the Jews to not execute Jesus. When he was sat 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. 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 the twain will ye that I release unto you? And they said, Barabbas. Pilate said unto them, what shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ? And he just keeps throwing this out in their face, you know, what am I going to do with the king? What am I going to do with this Christ? And they say unto him, let him be crucified. And the governor said, why? What evil hath he done? But they cried out to the more saying, let him be crucified. And then verse number 24, when Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, and this is after they've already threatened to call Caesar on him to, you know, get him, you know, because look, here's the thing. It doesn't really matter. I mean, from Caesar's perspective, Pilate knows how this is going to look. He's sitting here and he's trying to, you know, control and rule this area of this empire that they've overtaken and they've overthrown. And if there's an uprising or some kind of rebellion of some kind that goes down, that's on his head, that he couldn't keep order in that area of the empire. So when Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but rather a tumult was made, 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. So now, is that true? He just can wash his hands and just be done and he's not going to be guilty of anything. You know, so whatever little ceremony he wants to make for himself is great, but look, he's guilty of what he does here because it's his soldiers that go and carry out the death sentence for the Jewish leaders. He gives in to them and he carries out this death sentence for the Jewish leaders who pushed to have Jesus crucified. So look, there's two points I want to make here on the trial of Jesus. The first point is a simple one and in Ecclesiastes chapter 1, 9, you don't have to turn there, but the Bible says there's no new thing under the sun. You know, that's where you get this idea that, you know, the more things change, the more they stay the same. It's Ecclesiastes 1, 9. The Bible says there's nothing new under the sun. I mean, look, real leadership is self-sacrificing, not self-serving. So Pilate was, he was a bad leader. He was just a bad leader. He was a self-serving leader. I mean, that's mostly what we have today. As a matter of fact, when it comes to political leaders, I can't think of any that aren't self-serving. That's where we're at today. That's how bad it is. But the irony of the situation is you had this horrible bad leader standing right next to the best leader, the most self-sacrificing leader that has ever lived or ever will live, Jesus Christ. So look, politicians, these self-serving leaders of all kinds, maybe you see them at work, maybe you see them in your regular life, maybe you see them out and about, but look, it's not changed in 2,000 years and it's not going to change for another 2,000 years. It's just the way things are. Because look, I mean, here's the thing, I mean, you'll even see it in churches. I mean, why do you think churches today are in such a terrible situation? Why do you think that churches that stand up and actually preach what the Bible actually says, which look, I mean, I'm not making up a bunch of creative stuff, I'm just preaching what the Bible says, but why do you think that people that preach only 20% of the Bible, why do you think they do it? Because they're self-serving. Because look, I mean, standing up for justice against evil, I mean, it's difficult at times. I mean, people aren't going to like it, especially at times like today. I mean, look, Pilate, if he would have stood up against evil and stood up for justice, there would have been personal consequences to him for that. He might have lost his position. He might have lost his job. Maybe he would have been killed, who knows? But there would have been consequences. It was the choice between self-serving and self-sacrificing, and he chose to serve himself. That's the bottom line. So look, I mean, all these pastors of these churches that just stand up and say, good news only, hey, everything's great. Hey, good job in everything, always, every time, every day. Everything you're doing is awesome. Keep coming here. Keep giving money. It's just self-serving. I mean, is it difficult to see where they never bring up anything wicked that's going on? I mean, is there a lack of wicked things going on? My wife brought up the other day, she said, it's just crazy. She said, I feel like, you know, the old Batman comics, remember the, I mean, you know, the Batman comics, where all the crazy people and then Batman comes in and saves the day. She's like, I feel like we're living in Gotham City, and we're driving, and it's hilarious because we're driving at night. And she's like, I feel like we're living in Gotham City. She's like, they're just crazy people walking across the road all the time. I mean, literally, I mean, seriously, in California, in this city right now, today, you could see the Joker walking down the street and no one would say a thing. I'm serious. You could see somebody with their face painted and just walking around like the Joker, and no one would say anything. That's where we're at. There's no morality. I mean, what's going on? And then as we're talking, this lady pulls up in this motorcycle, like, she pulls right in front of us at a stoplight in this motorcycle, and she's got this helmet on that's got these big cat ears on it, and she's just like, so we're watching this helmet with these cat ears going back and forth, and she's like, see, Gotham City, and I'm like, where's Batman? But, I mean, it's crazy. It's crazy. The world's gone insane. There's no morality. I mean, how is what the governor did this week not have the city, the state in an uproar? I mean, this is insane. I mean, literally, you have, I mean, whether or not you believe that protecting children against predators, is that an opinion now? That's an opinion that apparently, you know, less than 50% of people believe in now. I mean, it's just scary times we're living in. I mean, I joke around about Gotham City, but, you know, I mean, this is scary times. There's no morality, and it's because no one's standing up for justice anymore. No one's standing up against evil anymore. No one's preaching what the Bible says anymore. I mean, that's why. I mean, the battle in this country was lost from the pulpit 150 years ago. I mean, that's where it started. It started here, and I've said it before. If we're going to win, it's got to start here again. It's got to start here again. The second point is this. The second point about Pilate is, turn to John chapter 18. As far as historic scenes in the Bible go, like things that actually happened in the Bible, this is probably my favorite right here, where Pilate in John chapter 18 and verse number 38, look what the Bible says. In verse number 38 of John 18, Pilate saith unto him, what is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and saith unto them, I find no fault in him at all. So now here, I mean, it's totally ironic that Pilate would say that. It's kind of like me standing right here and being like, what is a pulpit? Has anyone seen a pulpit? How could anyone know what a pulpit is when I'm standing right next to a pulpit, right? Or standing next to the piano going, what's a piano? Does anyone even know what a piano is? What's a piano? I mean, the guy says, what is truth when he's literally standing right next to the truth. I mean, it's crazy. But here's the problem. Here's the problem with Pilate. And here's the problem with that statement. He didn't really want to know. He didn't really know. He didn't really want to know what the truth was. Because what he was really saying was, you know, there really is no truth. You know, your truth and, you know, what's, you know, like the philosophers sitting around trying to define, you know, why are we here? Where did we come from? You know, it's no different today. I mean, it's no different today. I mean, you got all the modern version of this is all these, you know, these Metro losers sitting in a Starbucks at a Barnes and Noble, you know, contemplating the meaning of life when they're 20. And you know what? They'll do that until they're 90. And they'll never find it because, you know what, they don't want to find it. And here's the irony of the situation. I mean, think about this. Think about this. If you want to, I mean, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth. I mean, Jesus is the truth. I mean, think about the irony of this. You got some hippies sitting around in Starbucks trying to contemplate what's true about every situation or whatever. And you know, they're in a bookstore many times. You know what the best-selling book of all times is? It's in the Guinness Book. Do you know what's in the Guinness Book of World Records? The best-selling book of all times is the King James Bible. It's not even close. It's not even close to like other books. I mean, it's like, you know, 10X or 50X or whatever, the next best. As a matter of fact, they don't even really know how many, you know, Bibles have actually been sold or printed because it's just been, it's such a, it's been such a widespread thing, especially over the last 200 years, 300 years that, I mean, they don't even really know. It's probably way higher than 5 billion or whatever the number that's in the Guinness Book of World Records. But here's the thing. If you, I mean, say you're in a bookstore and there's like all these thousands of books and you want to know like knowledge and truth and, you know, I mean, don't you think you would start with the most popular one? I mean, just from a logical standpoint, right? I mean, there's one, but you know what? Here's the irony of it. And here's the proof that those people don't want to know the truth because that is the one book they will never touch. Not only is it not the first one that they go to, but it's the one that they never will touch. They will never even try to read that book. But I mean, if you were searching for the truth, you'd think you would start there, right? With the most, I mean, just forget religion. Forget what the Bible says. Just start, I mean, just start with the most, I mean, there's all these different lists of like, you know, 20 books you must read in your life and a hundred books that you must read in your life. But you have some of these lists, like books that you have to read before you die, right? Like A Tale of Two Cities and all these awesome books that are out there. But look, I mean, most people that are searching for the truth in that way will never even consider reading the Bible. It's also, you know, one of the only books that people will pretend to know everything about when they've not read a single page in. And you would never do that with any other book. I mean, who would do that? Who would go up to somebody and start like telling them about chapter 12 of, you know, a Harry Potter book or something when they've never even read it? You would just look like an idiot, especially if you're around a bunch of people who've read it. I mean, you would never do it with a secular book, yet people do it all the time with that one. It's crazy. Turn to Colossians chapter two. Yet the philosophers, you know, they'll never touch that book. And they'll wonder what the truth is until, you know, they're 90 years old, until they're off this, until they're in the ground. Look at Colossians chapter two and verse number eight. I mean, the Bible tells us about these people, about this debate in philosophy. Look at Colossians chapter two and verse number eight. The Bible says, beware lest any man spoil you through, spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. So I mean, when you're out soul winning and you run into one of these people, I mean, just get, just don't waste five seconds of your time on this. You know, where you run into these people where they're just like, hey man, what is truth, bro? You know, I mean, hey, you know, just be true to yourself, bro. Just like, hey man, see you later. You know, good luck with that. What is vain deceit? That's what it is. It's vain to see Pontius Pilate didn't want to know the truth and neither do people like that. And what he was saying is there is no truth and if there is, I don't want to find it and that's the amazing thing today and you'll find that out soul winning. You'll find that in your worldly life today that, you know, most people do not want to know the truth. It's sad. I mean, that's why there's not thousands of people listening to Bible preaching because most people just don't want to know. Jesus said in John 1837, 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 Pontius Pilate didn't hear his voice. I mean, the truth is available today, folks. The sad fact is most people don't want to know. I mean, most people in this country are just too comfortable in their own reality. That's the problem with this particular country. People are too comfortable in their own reality. They got their heads in the sand and they just, you know, look, I believe that if somebody wants to know the truth, if somebody wants to know the truth, regardless of their pride, look, I mean, no one will be able to tell you this better than me. It's tough being, you know, coming to the point in your life where you realize you were wrong for decades. It's tough. When I got saved, I didn't even really tell that many people for a while because I was just like, I had to get over the fact like I can't believe I was wrong for that long. It took me a while. I can't believe I was wrong for that long. But you know what? I wanted to know what was true. I remember, look, I remember when I was like six or seven years old, I grew up out of town. I grew up out in the country. But the nearest town where we went to church, it was 2,000 people. It was a pretty good-sized town, pretty big where I grew up. And I mean, I'm talking 2,000 people and there's nobody for 40 miles, all right? It's not a suburb of a city, okay? That was a city to me. But look, there was like 10 churches in this town of 2,000 people. And I remember thinking as we went to the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod Church, there was like five Lutheran churches. There was Peace Lutheran, the Evangelical Lutherans. There was all these different Lutheran churches. I remember thinking when I was just a little kid, I couldn't have been more than seven. I remember thinking, what are the odds that we're the right one? Then there was the Catholics, the Baptists, and these Assembly of God Church. I mean, all these different churches, they all had a cross on them. What are the odds that we're the right one? I was thinking that when I was seven. You know what I thought to myself when I was seven years old, I was like, you know what? I'm going to find out one day. I'm going to find out how I got so lucky to get into the right church, to be born into the right church. And then I found out I wasn't. But thank God I found out. But I remember thinking that. I just wanted to know. But look, I'll say this to people out soul winning. I'll say this to people out soul winning, and you should say it too. If you give the gospel to somebody, they understand it, but it's just a bridge too far for them. At that point, because guess what? If somebody for 30 or 40 years has been, you know, a Catholic or a Lutheran or a Pentecostal or whatever, and you give them the gospel and they're like, oh, yeah, that makes sense. I get it. But I gotta, I can't cross the whole bridge right here in front of you. It happens. It happens to a lot of people. And here's what I'll say to those people. I'm like, hey, go in your house and pray. I'll tell them to pray a prayer. And here's the prayer that I tell them to pray. Pray for God to show you the truth. You know what I believe? I believe that if they pray wholeheartedly that they want to know the truth regardless of their own pride or their own culture, that God will show them the truth and they'll get saved. Because, I mean, why do I know that? Why do I think that? Because that's what happened to me. Because I wanted to know. I wanted to know. But, you know, I just, I had a moment where I was just like, you know what, I want to know regardless if I'm right or not. And I wasn't. And look, they'll pray for God to show them and He will. And you know what? You know how they'll know? Because it'll match their conscience. It'll match what God wrote in their heart. And they'll, I mean, if they still have a conscience. If it hasn't been seared by, you know, Gotham City out here. But that, I mean, that's the danger of this stuff. That people are just searing their conscience again and again. Look, people know that this stuff is wrong. Most people aren't rejected by God. Most people aren't wicked reprobates and they know that this stuff is wrong and what makes me madder than, you know, the governor is that people are saying nothing about it. The people that know it's wrong just going along with it and saying nothing. So look, I mean, people, I hope people still have a conscience. But look, this is also, this is also a comfort for us, okay? This is a comfort. Look, we are to go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We are not to go out and force people to believe. Because guess what? You can't. You can't. You can't force people to believe. I mean, that's why it's by belief. That's why it's by belief. Because the only thing that no matter how powerful I am on this earth, I could be a king and have an army, the only thing that I can't force you to do is believe something. I can beat you and make you say stuff, I can make you sign stuff, I can make you do whatever I want, but I can't force you to believe. And neither can you, soul winner. So I know we want everyone to be saved. We want everyone to hear the gospel, but we are to preach the gospel. We are to learn to preach the gospel and that, I mean, turn to Ezekiel chapter 33, and that is our job. We cannot make people believe. Look, you can give a clear gospel presentation, don't get me wrong. You can be very good at presenting the truth and you should be good at it. Why do you think we come here every Saturday morning, every Sunday and we give these tips and we give this advice and we send you out with other soul winners and we try to sharpen you and sharpen you and sharpen you, because we want you to be able to get good at telling the truth to people. We want you to get good at it. We don't want you to be just flippant with it and not do a good job at it. But look, honestly, you can't make people believe even if you are really good at it. Still not everybody is going to believe. Look at Ezekiel chapter 33 and verse number 6. This is our job. But if the watchman see the sword come and blow not the trumpet and the people be not warned, underline those words in your Bible, be not warned. If the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So if the watchman doesn't warn people, it's your fault. If you are the watchman, if you don't warn people, it's your fault. But you know, sometimes when we go out and we're given the gospel and just nobody's receiving it, we're soul warning. We're warning people. That's what we're doing. We know the sword is coming. We know the wrath is coming. We're warning people. So when you go out and you preach the gospel and you know, nobody listens, nobody believes it, you know, people don't want to hear it, you're at least warning people. You're at least doing Ezekiel 33 6. You're the watchman. You're warning people. So look, Pilate, Pilate, he was a politician. He had no interest in the truth. We know that. It's no different than many people today. We know that. But last point I want to make. He served his purpose. He served his purpose. And that is the paradox of prophecy in the Bible and the way God makes things come to pass in the Bible. It's funny how God uses people's shortcomings to fulfill prophecy. I mean think of, I'll give you some other examples. Think of Rehoboam. Rehoboam, when he messed up and he didn't take the counsel of the old men, he lost the kingdom. But losing the kingdom was a fulfillment of prophecy. So you say, what if Rehoboam would have done right? Well, he didn't do right. And God knew he wouldn't do right. Does that mean that Rehoboam didn't have a choice to do right? No, that's not what that means. That means that God, look, God knows the end from the beginning. I know it's hard for us to wrap our minds around that, but look, his ways are higher than your ways. I hate to break it to you, but God uses, look, Babylon, same thing. God used a wicked nation to judge the nation of Judah. And then, you know, here's another funny thing. God always judges the wicked too. So he used Babylon to judge Judah, but then he judged Babylon too. So they, I mean, justice is delivered all the way through. But I mean, that's the paradox of Bible prophecy. But here's the thing. There's really no shortage of wicked people out there to fulfill prophecy for the Lord. So he knows the end from the beginning. There's enough people out there who will reject the truth on their own that God can use to fulfill prophecy. So that is the trial of Jesus, and that is Pontius Pilate, why he did what he did. But he had, what we do know for sure is he had, for sure, he had no interest in the truth. None. Because the truth was standing right next to him. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.