October 1, 2017
Read John 3:14 & 15. Did that serpent ever bite anyone? No, it was brazen, made as a symbol of the real ones. And it saved many lives. Jesus was telling Nicodemus that He Himself would be like that: made in the likeness of sin for us.
Hymn 338 - I love my Saviour
Prayer
Today we have Jesus’ final court session. Jesus was the only person that never sinned, and yet He was condemned as guilty! This last session was before Pilate again. Last time, Pilate said that he found no fault in Jesus. He didn’t want to deal with the problem, so when he heard that Jesus was a Galilean, he sent Him off to Herod. Herod didn’t judge Jesus, though, and eventually sent Him back to Pilate.
Matthew 27:11-14. Usually, the Jews were very loyal to their own people, and would fight for them if they were before Gentile judges. Here, things were reversed. They had the most special person of all, and they were trying to get Him killed.
Vv.15-18. It was tradition that the Romans would release one Jewish prisoner around Passover. Pilate decided to give them a choice: did they want Jesus or a fellow called Barabbas? This Barabbas was a thief and a murderer. There used to be a tract about this called “The Great Election”. It was an important moment; God’s people had to pick either Jesus or Barabbas. Pilate knew that they had brought Jesus to Him because they were envious. That’s a terrible condition to be in.
While Pilate was waiting for them to choose, he got a message from his wife. She had had a dream about Jesus, and she warned him, “Don’t judge Jesus; He’s a just man!” While this was happening, the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowd to vote for Barabbas. When Pilate came back, they told him their decision. The Jews made a bad choice, but we have the same choice. Will we chose Jesus, or the world? This could have been called a no-brainer decision, but the Jews chose Barabbas. I hope that we will all make the right decision!
Vv.22-23. Pilate’s heart must have sunk when he heard their choice. If he was doing what he should, and gone by Roman law, he would have been fine. Instead, he had a crowd that wanted to kill Jesus. He tried to talk them out of it, but they hated Jesus.
V.24-25. Pilate should have said, “No way!” Instead, though, he pretended that he could wash his hands of the whole affair, and told the people, “Do what you want!” The Jews took responsibility, “His blood be on us and on our children,” they said; and from that day to this, the Jews have been paying the price of killing Jesus. Many of them have been killed in wars and such. It was a terrible choice, with a high cost.
V26. So there it is. After 6 court sessions, Jesus was condemned by both the Jews and Gentiles. If we read farther, we would see how they crucified Him. We can be thankful, though, that Jesus died for us so that we can take Him as our Saviour. How important that choice is!
Titus 3
The first thing Paul tells Titus in this chapter is to be subject to principalities and powers. I don’t think they necessarily had the happiest arrangement of government there. Although the Lord is our Saviour the powers that be are ordained by God. Now, this doesn’t mean that God will always put a nice person in charge. He actually might put in who the people deserve. Sometimes we get better than we deserve, and other countries have a terrible time. We can be thankful we have law and order, and it’s not like the time of the judges. Not everyone is happy with the person in charge, but we’re still to be subject and obedient. Sometimes authorities do not agree with the Bible. It is better to obey God than man. We’re to obey as much a possible, but our first allegiance is to God. There are people in some countries who don’t have the liberty of conscience. That makes things really hard on them. This verse is very relevant.
There are lots of things being said on social media and a good amount of it is terrible. Especially with the younger crowds it’s cruel. It’s easy to say something unkind on these devices. We need to be concerned for all men, but spreading evil is wrong. The human nature is raw, and if we’re not careful we might do it ourselves. Darby puts verse two as, “to speak evil of no one, not to be contentions, [to be] mild, shewing all meekness towards all men”. There are some people who do it so much it becomes characteristic of someone who is always picking a fight. The Lord is an example of gentleness. He spoke out against what was wrong, but He was still gentle. He is the One with power over everything.
The next five verses are a classic Gospel portion. It’s a gem. Verse three is what we were before we were saved. How many of us are willing to admit we were foolish. Foolishness makes it easy to miss what is important like the man in the parable of the barns.
God has given a great deal of instruction to adhere to, and to blatantly do the opposite is going to get you into a lot of trouble. This is what God’s holiness requires. God looks for those obedient to truth. We fall into these things because we were deceived. It’s Satan’s favorite job . Many people are kept from God because of lust and pleasures.
Hymn 370 - Yield not to temptation
Prayer