Tried and Condemned

How does God let guilty rebels go free?

In school, what was the most dreaded color to see on your homework? Red. In the past, teachers used red ink to correct homework. Katie and many of her coworkers now use other colors when they grade homework because red has such negative connotations.

When you handed in a paper, you knew it was going to be judged and scrutinized. Your teacher was going to read through it and find every mistake, marking all of them with circles and underlines and crossing out what doesn’t belong and writing comments on the side. Then the fateful day would come when your teacher would begin handing everyone’s papers back. You’d wait anxiously to get yours back. First you’d look for your grade at the top of the paper, circled in red ink. Then you’d go through your paper and see all the mistakes your teacher found. The last thing you want to see is a bunch of red marks.

Series Introduction
Today, we are continuing to prepare for Easter in this series called “For You.” Jesus says that everything he goes through in these final three chapters of the Gospel According to Luke was “for you.” He was prepared to die for you. He was betrayed, arrested, denied, and mocked for you.

Sermon Introduction
This evening, we will see that Jesus is put on trial and condemned for you. But as we will see, there is no reason he should be condemned. His paper comes back with no red ink on it and yet he is sent to his death.

The big question this passage answers is: how does God let guilty rebels go free? How does God let guilty rebels go free?

Jesus goes through four trials in this passage, but none of them prove him guilty. In fact, they show his innocence. We’ll cover all four trials then answer our big question.

First, let’s begin with the trial in front of the Sanhedrin

Trial Before the Sanhedrin (22:66-71)

Jesus knows he is going to suffer and die, but he also knows this is all part of God’s plan. He told his disciples during their celebration of Passover that his death was for them. Just like the Passover lamb saved the Israelites long ago from death, his death would do the same. Just like God rescued his people from slavery to Egypt long ago, Jesus’ death would rescue them from slavery to sin so that they can serve him.

Our first week in this series, we talked about the Passover. This was an Israelite festival where they remembered how God saved them from death long ago. God went through the land of Egypt and brought death to the firstborn in every house except for the houses with the blood of a lamb smeared on their door post. God would “pass over” those houses and spare them from death. But this wasn’t just any lamb. It was a spotless lamb - perfect with no blemishes. Jesus said that his death will be like that Passover lamb: it will save others from death. These trials prove his innocence and show that he is also spotless.

After the Passover, Jesus went to a grove of olive trees to pray. It was there that Judas, one of his closest disciples, betrayed him by leading the religious leaders right to him. They arrested Jesus and took him to the high priest’s house.

Other accounts tell us that Jesus was questioned throughout the night. Then verse 66 says:

66 When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. And they led him away to their council, and they said, 67 “If you are the Christ, tell us.” (Luke 22:66-67a)

This group of people is called the Sanhedrin, made up of Israel’s religious leaders with the high priest serving as the chairman of it. Throughout the night, evidence was presented against Jesus but an official verdict couldn’t be rendered until day. Therefore when day came, they gathered the whole Sanhedrin to render an official verdict. The matter on the table is this: “If you are the Christ, tell us.” In the Old Testament, God promised he would send a king to rescue his people. “Christ” is the New Testament word for that king. They want to know if it’s him.

Jesus responds in verse 67:

But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, 68 and if I ask you, you will not answer. (Luke 22:67b-68)

Jesus knows this is a rigged trial. They aren’t interested in the truth. Their goal is to get rid of him. They have been plotting to do that since he entered Jerusalem on Sunday and it’s evidenced by the fact that they came and arrested him at night instead of openly in broad daylight while he was teaching every day in the temple.

So Jesus says, “I know there isn’t any use in trying to convince you.” Then he goes on in verse 69:

69 But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” (Luke 22:69)

The “Son of Man” was a figure in the Old Testament who would set up an everlasting kingdom and is one of Jesus’ favorite titles for himself. Jesus says that he will soon be seated at the right hand of the power of God. Jesus is claiming he will soon have a seat of honor, power, and authority right next to God. And he is also saying, “You guys think you are the ones judging me, but in actuality I am going to be sitting next to God judging you soon.”

The council asks, “Are you the Son of God, then?” They see the implication of his statement. He replies, “You say that I am.” Jesus doesn’t outright say “yes,” because he knows they don’t understand. But he also doesn’t deny it and that gives them enough to say, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.” To the council, Jesus has made a claim that no human should make: that he will sit at God’s right hand sharing his power, authority, and honor. In their minds, he is making himself equal or nearly equal with God.

The irony is that Jesus is telling nothing but the truth. They want to know if he is the Christ and if he is the Son of God. Jesus doesn’t deny being those and so they condemn him. He is condemned for not denying who he truly is.

With this, we move to the trial before Pilate in chapter 23, verses 1 through 5.

Trial before Pilate (23:1-5)

The Sanhedrin is a religious council, which means they can’t condemn someone to death. Even though they want Jesus dead, they don’t have that authority. So they bring Jesus before Pilate, the Roman governor for the region, and attempt to convince him that Jesus deserves to be put to death. In order to do that, they need to change the charges against Jesus to wrongs Pilate would care about. He doesn’t care about their religious issue that Jesus is claiming to be more than they think he should.

The accusation they bring to Pilate is in verse 2:

2 And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” (Luke 23:2)

The nation of Israel is under Roman occupation. So Pilate’s ears are going to perk up if he hears that someone is telling Israel they don’t need to pay taxes to Caesar and is claiming to be the king of Israel. That’s rebelling against the Empire.

Pilate then asks, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus’ answer again doesn’t give a straightforward “yes” but he also doesn’t deny it. He replies, “You have said so.” But Pilate has seen revolutionaries before. He knows how someone who is trying to overthrow the Roman Empire acts and talks. We get the short version of this trial then his verdict in verse 4:

4 Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.” 5 But they were urgent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.” (Luke 23:4-5)

The people insist that Jesus is up to no good and has been stirring up people all over Israel, from Galilee even to Jerusalem. This information leads to our third trial before Herod in chapter 23, verses 6 through 12.

Trial before Herod (23:6-12)

Upon hearing the accusation that Jesus has been stirring people up in Galilee, Pilate asks if he is a Galilean and when he learns that he is, sends him over to Herod. This is Herod Antipas, who is the son of Herod the Great. Herod the Great was put in charge over Israel by Rome. He was only half-Jewish so many in Israel thought he was an illegitimate king. Herod the Great is the one who has the babies in Bethlehem killed in an attempt to get rid of Jesus. After Herod’s death in 4 AD, his kingdom was divided among his sons, one of which is Herod Antipas who we read about here. One of his areas of responsibility was Galilee, which is why Pilate sends Jesus over to him. Herod was in Jerusalem for Passover and his family palace would have been about a ten minute walk.

Herod is excited when Jesus appears before him. Jesus is like a local celebrity back in Galilee and Herod is hoping for some entertainment. He wants Jesus to show him a sign, meaning perform a miracle. But though Herod questioned him at length, Jesus didn’t answer and the council of religious leaders laid their accusations before Herod concerning Jesus.

When Jesus doesn’t do as he wants, Herod joined his soldiers in mocking Jesus and looking down on him. He thinks Jesus is a joke and is beneath him. They take some fancy clothing and put it on Jesus to dress him like a king then send him back to Pilate. Though Pilate and Herod had been at odds, this interaction created a friendship between them.

Pilate was trying to get this problem off his hands but it didn’t work. When Jesus returns, he undergoes his fourth trial.

Trial before Pilate, Part 2 (23:13-25)

Pilate calls the Sanhedrin council together and says to them in verse 14:

“You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. 15 Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. 16 I will therefore punish and release him.” (Luke 23:14-16)

Pilate’s verdict is that Jesus is innocent. Herod’s verdict is that Jesus is innocent. Pilate hopes if he has Jesus whipped that the Sanhedrin will be satisfied. Verse 18 tells us their response:

18 But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”— 19 a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. (Luke 23:18-19)

The Gospel According to Matthew tell us that at Passover, Pilate had a custom of releasing a prisoner of the people’s choosing. Here, they ask for a man named Barabbas to be released. This man is a true rebel and revolutionary. He was in prison for trying to start a revolt in Jerusalem and for murder. These are the charges that the Sanhedrin brought against Jesus: that he is stirring people up to revolt. The Sanhedrin want Pilate to believe that Jesus is a rebel against Rome.

Pilate tries again to have Jesus released but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” Crucifixion is how Rome took care of rebels. They’d hang them on a t-shaped pole in the ground, naked for all to see. The message was clear: this is what happens if you rebel against Rome. Verse 22 gives Pilate’s response:

22 A third time he said to them, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” (Luke 23:22)

Pilate says, “Jesus is innocent. He is not guilty of being a rebel. He has done no crime deserving death.” But the crowd continues to demand he be crucified and finally Pilate gives in. He decides it would be better for an innocent person to die rather than have a riot on his hands.

Big Question

The big question this passage answers is: how does God let guilty rebels go free?

Verse 25 gives us the key:

25 He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will. (Luke 23:25)

Barabbas, the guilty rebel, is released and Jesus, the innocent one, is delivered to death. Jesus took this guilty rebel’s place. Jesus was tried as a rebel and condemned as a rebel even though he is innocent. What’s more, he is tried and condemned as a rebel against the king even though he is the true king!

The big question: how does God let guilty rebels go free? The answer is this: guilty rebels go free because Jesus takes their place. Guilty rebels go free because Jesus takes their place.

Each of us is guilty of rebellion against God. We are all guilty rebels. We have all defied his authority over our lives, we have all broken the laws of his kingdom, we have all chosen to live for our own honor and glory rather than his, we have all wanted to sit on the throne and call the shots in our life rather than God. We have all said “no” to God and wanted to run life our own way. This makes us all guilty rebels! We should all be declared guilty and sentenced to death.

But Jesus undergoes the trial we should all have to undergo. Jesus receives the verdict we should all receive. Jesus is given the sentence we should all be given. We can be free from the penalty of our rebellion because Jesus takes our place.

Jesus can be the Passover lamb, saving others from death, because he is spotless. He turned in the paper of his life and it came back with no red ink. The name he put at the top was “Christ, Son of God, and king of the Jews” which the religious council didn’t like, but that’s his name. Pilate found nothing wrong with his paper. The only thing Herod didn’t like was that Jesus didn’t write the story he wanted him to write by entertaining him with miracles like party tricks.

Innocent Jesus is tried and condemned to death. And because of that, guilty rebels can go free. Many have called this the great exchange. What do we exchange?

First, we exchange our sinful record for his spotless record. We exchange our sinful record for his spotless record. Everyone will die and have to stand before God in his law court. If we handed in the paper of our life, it would be covered in red ink and everyone would receive a failing grade. God would see our sinful record and declare us guilty rebels. In God’s kingdom, prison is called hell and that is where we would all go.

But we get to exchange our sinful record for Jesus’ spotless record. The blood of the spotless lamb puts Wite-Out over all your sins and replaces them with his perfection. If you place your faith in Christ, you don’t have to stand trial before God because the verdict has already been declared: innocent. You are covered with Jesus’ spotless record.

Second, we exchange eternal death for eternal life. We exchange eternal death for eternal life. We not only get Jesus’ spotless record, but we get the reward for his spotless record. Jesus goes to his death because he takes the sentence for our record as guilty rebels. Death in Scripture is physical, but also spiritual. Both come because of separation from God. God is the giver of life and if we are separated from him, we experience death.

Eternal death is the sentence to be served by every guilty rebel. But when Jesus goes to his death on the cross, he experiences the curse because of our sin. He experiences being forsaken by God. He takes the penalty for our sinful record so that we can have the reward for his sinless record. Jesus accepts the charges against us and the sentence we deserve for them so that we can exchange eternal death for eternal life.

The truth is that Jesus took the punishment for your sin. You deserve death. You deserve to be cursed. You deserve to be forsaken. You deserve the condemnation of a guilty rebel against God. But because of Jesus, we can receive life, righteousness, freedom, blessing, hope, and love. One song puts it this way: “All things in me call for my rejection; all things in you plead my acceptance” (To the Cross I Cling, Matt Boswell). This should lead to great joy! This is the greatest gift we could be given! We were on death row but through Jesus we are pardoned and reconciled to God.

But two cases of unbelief kill our joy in this wonderful news. First, we don’t believe our sin is that bad. We don’t believe our sin is that bad. We can easily think that our situation isn’t really that bad. We can think that our record isn’t as bad as the bible says. Sure, there are lots of people who would have the record of their life covered in red ink: Hitler, the September 11th terrorists, all the people involved in school shootings. They’d get a failing grade for sure. My paper would have some red ink on it, but I’d get a passing grade. I’m not as bad as other people.

How many of you are familiar with the Ten Commandments? God gave these as a summary to his people for how they are to act. If you want a spotless record, all you have to do is keep these ten rules. That’s it. Just ten. Shouldn’t be too hard. But if you went through all ten of these and reflected on them, you’d discover that you have broken nearly all if not all of them.

Take the first one for example. God says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” That means no person or thing should be more important to you than God. Nothing should be a greater priority, nothing should be more valuable, nothing should be a higher authority. God should always be the #1 priority in your life. Your only goal is to worship, serve, and please him. Your greatest desire is to do what he says. What do you think is your longest streak of consecutive days thinking only about God and what he wants you to do and doing nothing but that? The truth is, if we handed in a record of our life, every single day would have red ink on it because we are constantly putting other things and other people and especially ourselves before God.

Just this fact is enough to condemn us as guilty rebels because if he is supposed to be the king on the throne and we constantly try to sit on the throne, that’s the definition of a rebel! If you continued through the Ten Commandments, you’d find that you break more of God’s laws than you keep. And the more we recognize this, the more it will fill us with joy! The more we realize what we’ve been saved from, the more joy we will have in our Savior.

The first case of unbelief is that we don’t believe our sin is that bad. The second case of unbelief is that we don’t believe Jesus really gives us his spotless record. We don’t believe Jesus really gives us his spotless record. We keep acting like we need to prove ourselves to God. We need to correct all the mistakes on our paper to get a passing grade. But Jesus has cover them all! We get his record now. We don’t need to prove ourselves.

One of the symptoms that you believe your sin isn’t that bad and that Jesus hasn’t given you a spotless record is that you can’t handle it when people point out something you are doing wrong. If someone circles a mistake in your life with red pen, you become defensive or blame something else. As one author puts it, you activate your inner lawyer to plead your case. You need to get off the hook for this crime and prove your innocence.

I’m especially bad at this. When Katie points out something that I did that hurt her, I immediately go to self-defense and blame. I want to argue my case and show how I did nothing wrong. I make excuses, I bring up times she’s done the same thing, I give reasons for why I did what I did. But if I believed that my record is really bad and that Jesus gives me his spotless record before God, then I could easily admit that what I did was wrong and wouldn’t need to defend it. God knows all my sin and he’s forgiven me, so why would it be such a big deal for Katie to see my sin?

One of the marks of Christian maturity is an ability recognize and confess our sin. That’s why we confess sin silently every week before the Lord’s Supper. That’s why our GFGs confess every week. And it is good for us because the more we know how bad our sin is, the more we know how good our Savior is.

This week, when someone points out something you did wrong, instead of defending yourself or blaming, try owning it instead. Instead of activating your inner lawyer, say, “You’re right. That was wrong. I shouldn’t have done that. Will you forgive me?” And rest in the fact that your sinful record has been exchanged for Jesus’ spotless record.

Conclusion
Jesus was put on trial as a rebel and condemned as a rebel. That’s the same trial and condemnation we should all receive. Yet, like Barabbas, we are guilty rebels set free. We are saved from death because the spotless lamb died in our place. That’s the good news of Christianity: that God lets guilty rebels go free because he sent Jesus to take our place.