Will You Dethrone Him? Series

What Will You Do With Jesus?

Will You Dethrone Him?

John 19:1-22

Introduction

William Barclay wrote, “There is no escape from a personal decision in regard to Jesus; we must ourselves decide what we will do with him, accept him or reject him.” What will you do with Jesus? As we have explored the final hours of Jesus before the cross. We see Peter denying Jesus. We see Pilate dismissing Jesus. Today we see the Jewish leaders dethroning King Jesus.

Last week we left Jesus standing in Pilate’s Hall. He has appealed to the crowd, to no avail. Barabbas is released, still they called for Jesus to be crucified. Pilate, can find no fault in him, and doesn’t want to kill him. This is not out of kindness - Pilate is a cruel Governor. He seeks to irritate the Jewish leaders. In our text today, John Presents King Jesus to us - but not a King like we might imagine. Seven words describe King Jesus in the most painful moments of his life.

1. HUMILIATED

John 19:1-5 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”

Pilate humiliated Jesus in an attempt to stir crowd’s pity. Jesus was beaten, at the order of Pilate (1). Jesus was dressed mockingly as a king. (2-3). A crown made of thorns. A kingly purple robe. The soldiers mockingly worshiped him (3). They also hit him in the face. Pilate presented the innocent, but beaten Jesus to the crowd (4-5). Lucado: Not once did Christ use his supernatural powers for personal comfort. … With an arch of his brow, he could’ve paralyzed the hand of the soldier as he braided the crown of thorns. But he didn’t… He wore that crown of thorns for you.

2. HUMAN

John 19:6-13 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews[a] answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” 12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha.

Jesus was a real man who experienced suffering. He suffered physically. He suffered relationally – abused at the hands of others. He suffered emotionally – he was rejected even as a broken pitiful figure with tattered robe and grotesque crown on his head.

Isaiah 53:3 NLT “He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.”

3. SACRIFICIAL

John 19:14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

Jesus was a representative man, SACRIFICED FOR US. John notes that it was the day of Preparation for the Passover”. Swindoll: “At noon on the day of preparation, priests in the temple began slaughtering the passover lambs … Because they had so many worshippers to serve - as many as 100,000 pilgrims - the priests worked through the afternoon until sundown. John wanted to stress that Jesus had been sentenced at noon and would be hanging on the cross as the Passover lambs were being sacrificed in the temple.”

1 Peter 3:18 NLT “Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.”