The Good News According to Luke
Pastor Rollan Fisher
Focus: Jesus on trial reveals our motives, his crucifixion, our need and his burial the pathway to the greatest miracle of all.
On Trial
Crucified
Buried
On Trial
The trial of Jesus reveals the true motives of men’s and women’s hearts.
Luke 23:1-16 ESV
“Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. 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." And Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered him, "You have said so." Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no guilt in this man." But they were urgent, saying, "He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place." When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other. Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, "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. Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him."”
Just as Pilate and Herod had heard of Jesus’ earthly ministry, the evidence for the historic Jesus of Nazareth’s sinless life, miracles, death, burial and resurrection are available and abundant.
A recommendation:
The world will quickly embrace Jesus as a humanitarian figure.
Yet we in the world attempt to place Jesus on trial when his authority crosses our wills.
"I had motive for not wanting the world to have a meaning; consequently assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics, he is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do, or why his friends should not seize political power and govern in the way that they find most advantageous to themselves. … For myself, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation, sexual and political." --Aldous Huxley, Ends and Means (London: Chatto & Windus, 1946), pp. 270, 273
The essence of the gospel is heard when Jesus said:
John 3:17-21 ESV
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."”
Don’t be one who ignores the light and intellectual integrity for emotional or preferential reasons (meaning the way you want to live despite the consequences).
V. 12 - Opposition to Jesus turns previous opponents into allies because they have the commonality of inward resistance to the authority of the King of Kings.
Luke 23:18-25 ESV
“But they all cried out together, "Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas"— a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, "Crucify, crucify him!" 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." But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. 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.”
So why do people so often today put Jesus on trial?
Because they want to do what they want to do and live the way they want to live.
Hedonism is a false god promising happiness and peace which people serve in our generation.
People bow daily at the altar of their lusts.
“The passion of lust is the opposite of holiness and honor.”
-John Piper
“Heaven and hell are at stake in what you do with your eyes and the thoughts of your imagination.”
-John Piper
The crowd asked an insurrectionist and murderer to be released to them rather than the author of life.
This is telling of the human condition which is bent on rebellion and sin that leads to death.
When we don’t choose Jesus, we will always choose death instead.
Crucified
The crucifixion of Jesus reveals our need for a savior.
Luke 23:26-43 ESV
“And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us,' and to the hills, 'Cover us.' For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews." One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise."”
There are many additional reasons that people throw off faith.
One reason is being forced to carry a cross.
There are those who have carried the cross forcibly like Simon of Cyrene and therefore want to throw off any vestige of religion from their lives.
The solution: Meet the one who carried the cross for you and so be saved.
A second reason is the company amongst which we find Jesus in the midst of his saving work.
Jesus was crucified in between criminals.
Jesus was treated as a criminal though he did no wrong.
How have you or those you know vilified Jesus because of those with whom he is associated?
Jesus asked the Father to forgive those who were condemning him, who didn’t realize the wrong they were doing in crucifying the Son of God.
Jesus also gives grace to those others would condemn, right off and leave for dead.
The man hanging next to Jesus on the cross gives one of the clearest examples of the gospel - that salvation is by grace through faith alone.
There is no way around it - we will reap what we sow.
The man would die for his crimes that day.
Yet because he would turn to Jesus and beg for his mercy, the man would receive forgiveness and the gift of eternal life that would swallow up all of his earthly mistakes.
If we scorn the grace given others, it only shows the lack of understanding that we have of our own sin before a holy, perfect God.
The solution:
Understand that in death, Jesus is acting as a savior offering life to a blind and bound world.
Buried
The burial of Jesus paves the way for his greatest miracle of all - resurrection from the dead.
Luke 23:44-56 ESV
“It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, "Certainly this man was innocent!" And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.”
The speed of Jesus’ death was produced not only from his torture, but by the wrath of God being poured out on him as the Passover Lamb for humanity’s sins.
The temple being torn in two at Jesus’ death removed the veil of separation between God and man - meaning that through Christ’s broken body, we would be reconciled through repentance and faith - once again having welcome access to the presence of God.
Just as many families purchase burial plots where family and friends can visit their graves after death, Jesus was laid in the tomb set apart for Joseph of Arimathea.
The fact that Jesus was buried in a known and recognizable tomb provided solid foundation for his resurrection claims.
The people would be able to tell whether or not his body was still there.
Jesus would have a physical death preparing the way for a bodily, not simply a spiritual, resurrection.
Jesus had to die to pave the way for the greatest miracle of all, his prophesied resurrection of the dead.
We enter into Christ’s new life by dying to sin and putting our trust in Jesus’ finished work at the cross.
What do you need to allow to die and be buried in your world to allow Jesus to bring you into a new, resurrection life?
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
-Aristotle
This is good news for us as we also look to the hope of resurrection in Christ when God truly makes all things new!
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher