Holy Week Sermon - Not Guilty!

Luke 23:1-25

This is the start of the passion week before Jesus was crucified on Good Friday. Jesus did no wrong, except to rebuke the Pharisees of their wrong teaching. He did not pervert the nation of Israel (v2) for his teachings were the truth. In fact, everyone marvelled at his teachings. He was accuse of forbidding people to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ the King. Luke 20 documented that Jesus himself taught the people to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God whose that belongs to God. This was false accusation against him. Nonetheless Jesus did no deny that He is the King of the Jews, for he indeed is so.

Pilate saw through the wickedness of the people towards Jesus. If the Jews really thought that Jesus is their king, they would protect their king and not deliver him to Pilate. As such Pilate saw through these false accusations and lies of the people. Lies and false witnesses are works of the Devil. As child of God we must not lie, even white lies. We must feel guilty if we do so - confess our sin and repent.

Both Pilate and Herod declared Jesus not guilty. Pilate and Herod were crooked men, but even they did not find Jesus guilty. Those people whom Jesus were to save asked for Barrabas instead, a murderer and a sinful man.
Pilate himself was not without guilt. He wanted to chastise Jesus even though he declared him innocent. He listened to the people's demand to crucified him. We as child of God should not listen to man but strive to please God. The wonderful grace of Jesus was clearly demonstrated on the cross where He died for those who put him to death.

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Acts 2:36.

We are guilty, all are guilty. Repent and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

Bible Study - 2 Samuel 18

Civil war, David and Absalom.

The foundation of this war is the belief that King David is the rightful King. As such, the people did not allow David to go to war with them, for his safety's sake (v3). King David felt responsible for Absalom's action due to the consequence of his action with Bathsheba. That's why he asked his men to deal gently with his son (v5).

The wood of Ephraim was in the middle of Israel, a dangerous and treacherous place. More people died in the forest than the war - God was on David 's side. Absalom was caught by his hair, his pride and vanity (chapter 14), and irony with God's humor. The men refused to kill him by virtue of David's command. The men knew that David was strict towards the commands he issued to his men. Joab did not agree with the men and went ahead to kill Absalom (v14).

Was what David asked of his men right or wrong? As a father, it was right; but as a King it was wrong. This was David's dilemma. However, the biblical way was to be objective and not allow anyone to escape the law just by the fact that he was someone special. No one should be spared under God's law. David allowed his feelings to interfere with the affairs of the nation of Israel. This is evident at the end of the episode where David wept and moaned for his son's death. The lesson to learn here is to bring up your son fearing God. Don't let any area of your life hinder with your work for God. Let every area of your life be God honouring, else you will find yourself in a dilemma where you need to choose between different areas.

Joab - a strange character in the Bible. Did he kill Absalom out of his personal revenge or for King David's sake? He was capability but cunning, he seemed to do right, yet he can be ruthless. A character worth studying.

The war was over at the sound of Joab's trumpet, and the people that supported Absalom fled to their houses, hoping that no one knew they supported Absalom (v17). Absalom's life ended sadly, with only his pillar as a symbol of remembrance ( v18), a reflection of his unfruitful life. We must not aim for glory but for a spiritually fruitful life. May Absalom's life be a reminder to all Christians to live according to God's will and serve him so long as we are on earth.