Situational Ethics

We are working our way through the Gospel here of John. There are many, as we go through this account of the crucifixion, but there are many who have a part in this crucifixion story. Judas is one who has a large part, the betrayer.

And by the way, let me just throw this out here. You know, Jesus said, inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these, my brethren, you did it unto Me. And sometimes we think, well, I can't betray the Lord, I can't deny the Lord, I can't call for the Lord's crucifixion, I can't do that.

But as you do that unto one of the least of these, you've done it unto Me. The body of Christ is here. And as you treat the body of Christ, there will be many who betray the body of Christ.

There will be many who will deny even being a part of the body of Christ. And there will be many who will deliver the body of Christ up to martyrdom. And Jesus said, inasmuch as you've done it unto the least of these, you know, we look back and we see these betrayals and these denials and all the things that are happening here, and we say, wow, good thing I didn't live back there.

You know, I'd have had to make decisions. Well, we make decisions now because we decide on how we respond to the body of Christ, the church. And as much as you've done it unto the least of these, you've done it unto Me.

And so, as we go down through this story, remember that we can put ourselves right there in our day. How do I treat the body of Christ? Do I betray it? Do I deny it? Do I deliver it up? Well, many had a part in the crucifixion story. Judas is one.

Caiaphas, the high priest, is another. Peter, we talked about Peter, I believe it was last week. And now we're going to look at Pilate.

Pilate is a Roman leader, a Roman ruler. He's going to have also a part in this. But also the Jewish leadership and the Jewish people, they have their part also.

And we're going to see some of that here this morning. I was hoping to get down through the end of the chapter, but I don't think we'll do that. I think we'll just take the first five or six verses and discuss some of these Jewish leaders and these individuals who had a part in the crucifixion here of the Lord Jesus.

So we ought not to think that we don't have a part, because we actually did. The Bible says He was crucified because of our transgressions. I remember reading the story of the man who had another dream, and he dreamed that he was at the crucifixion.

And he approached the cross there, and Jesus was in His last hours. He had just died. And he saw this Roman soldier about ready to take the spear in his dream and puncture the side of the Lord Jesus, as the Gospels talk about.

And he began in his dream to cry out, Stop it! Don't do it! Stop it! And he approached this Roman soldier who had a helmet on, his full garb, and as he approached the Roman soldier yelling for him to stop it, the Roman soldier turned around and looked at him, and guess who was in the helmet? The man who was dreaming. And he realized that God was trying to teach him a lesson, that he had a part in that crucifixion also. Well, I'd like to read here, starting in verse number 28, and we'll go down here to verse number 32.

I'd like to look at these Jewish leaders. I believe all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable. It's easier for me to read down through here, and just kind of skip over this as just kind of filler, and get down to where Jesus is talking to Pilate about His kingdom, and it's not of this world.

But I think there are no doubt lessons in these five verses, and that many of us would probably just read over, and not see anything there. But I'd like to draw out some lessons for us about human nature, and about how people respond to the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's look at John chapter 18.

I'm going to start reading in verse number 28. Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment, and it was early, and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring you against this man? They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.

Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death, that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spake, signifying what death he should die. Now I'd like to look at these Jewish leaders, and there's probably maybe 20 of them, 50 of them.

They are made up of chief priests, and the high priests, and some of the Pharisees, and they are bringing Jesus to Pilate. Jesus has already called them blind hypocrites, and we're going to see some of that here in their life. But they are also taking part here in this crucifixion story.

If I think about all the Bible and all we've gone over, and all the times I've taught the Scriptures, this might be the worst example of hypocrisy throughout the entire Scripture that I can find. So let's look at this, let's have a word of prayer, and then we'll pick up a couple of lessons here for our life, from these individuals who are bringing Jesus to Pilate. Heavenly Father, we stop now and acknowledge You Lord, and even as we sang this morning, pass me not, O gentle Savior, hear my humble cry.

Lord, we pray that by the still, small voice of the Spirit of the Lord, that You would apply the Word of God to each one of our hearts. Lord, give me grace to try to communicate truth that is here, that we trust Your Word. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

And so, Heavenly Father, we pray Your blessing upon the preaching and teaching of Your Word. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, I want to give you a little bit of background here to help us understand the story, why Pilate.

Well, Pilate is a Roman governor, and Rome has the rule over the area of Israel and Judea, and they are actually ruling the known world, and they're allowing the Jews to have their religious system, they're allowing the Jews to have their culture, it's just that they're overseeing it, they're ruling. And Pilate has been placed here as the supreme Roman ruler, and if you have any problems with Pilate, you can always, as Paul did, appeal yourself to Caesar, and go to Rome and stand before Caesar, but Pilate is the governor, he is the head, representing the Romans to the nation of Israel. And so that's why you have in the Bible all the taxation.

When Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph needed to go and to pay their taxes, because they were in the house of David, they went back to Bethlehem to pay their taxes. So you see this idea of having to pay taxes to the Romans. One of the individuals that's very familiar in the Gospels is the publican.

The publican was despised in Judea, because he was a Jew who was hired by the Romans to collect the taxes. And so when the publican came to your door, you almost felt like, well, he's a turncoat, he is working for the Romans to gather the taxes for them from us Jews. And so the word publican became a despised name amongst those in Jerusalem.

And so the Romans are overseeing. And something else you need to realize, and it's mentioned here, is that the Jews were unable to kill or bring judgment on someone's capital punishment unless they came to the Romans. The Romans were the ones who were the authorities, and evidently the Jews could not put someone to death unless they got the approval of Pilate and the Roman government.

So that's why they are coming here to get that approval. Look what it says in verse 31. Then said Pilate unto them, taking him and judge him according to your law, the Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.

The Romans had forbid them to put anyone to death. And so if Jesus was going to be put to death, it was going to be by the Romans. And that would be crucifixion.

Of course, if the Jews put someone to death, it would be by stoning. And we're going to learn some things about that here in just a little bit. So that's the background.

The Jews are bringing Jesus because they want the Romans to give them permission to kill Him. And that's going to lead Him to the Roman form of capital punishment, which is going to be the cross and crucifixion. So let's read, starting in verse number 28.

Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment, and it was early, and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Now here is, I think in this verse, maybe the worst case of hypocrisy in the entire Bible. And you ought not to be critical.

I want to share these things because we ought to look into our own life to see if there's any of this hypocrisy in us. These individuals who took Jesus to Pilate would not go inside the hall of judgment because it was a Gentile hall. It was a Roman hall.

And they thought for the fear of them being defiled by stepping inside a Roman hall or by being under a Roman roof or touching Roman walls, that being inside this building might defile them so that they were not able to then eat the Passover. It's Passover season. So they were concerned here, it says, about being defiled.

Now, I went through the Old Testament. I tried to think of what Old Testament commandment would have given them that idea. There is actually no Old Testament commandment forbidding them to come into a Gentile ruler's place.

It does not defile them, but it became a part of their oral tradition throughout the years. They began to add things to the law, and one of the things that was added to the law was this kind of a thing that you cannot enter into a Gentile's home or habitation, and if you do so, you will be defiled. So they had an extra rule book, a standard book, and by that standard book, which is the traditions of the elders, traditions of the rabbis, that they could not come into this judgment hall during the Passover time, lest they were to be defiled.

And so you all, probably from that, some of this background, the religious background, understand how some of these rules can be codified in such a way as in the generations that are coming, they begin to think that they're actually biblical commandments. Like, for example, no driving of cars, or no having of electricity, or having to have certain colors of paint. You know, those kind of things are rules that pass down through generations and become God's law.

They become commandment. And so that was very much happening, and yes, we've seen this over and over again. The Jews had many commandments and doctrines of men that had been codified, and had become law and regulation.

Well, if you go back in the Old Testament, there were many godly men who stood before kings, who actually were counselors to kings. Daniel was one of them who stood before kings and counseled with kings. He was one of the king's wise men, and he oftentimes would give counsel.

Joseph was one who stood with Pharaoh. Moses went in to Pharaoh. Moses actually was living for a time as a young person in the palace with Pharaoh.

And so this idea of being defiled, I want you to realize, is something that is a man's commandment. It is a standard that was established, and it was passed down through the generations and it became in their mind the law of God. Well, I've shared this before, but I want to throw this out to you.

It helps us understand the whole idea of Phariseeism and what is happening here. After the Babylonian captivity, when the Jews were thrown into captivity because they violated God's law, their hearts were departing from the Lord, and specifically the Lord told them this that because they violated His Sabbath, that they were going to have to spend so many years in captivity. And so when they came out of captivity, there was a sect amongst the Jewish people that were called the Pharisees that rose up and in their zeal, they made extra-biblical laws in order, and probably with good intentions, in order that the Jewish people would never again violate the Sabbath.

And so they added things to the Sabbath and they made all kinds of rules and regulations about the Sabbath. And you see that in the New Testament. And oftentimes they criticized Jesus for violating those commandments.

And so it was an attempt at the very beginning to keep people from violating the Sabbath and causing the nation of Israel to go back into captivity. And you know, I see this in church life and you've all experienced this. There's obviously two ditches always in the road.

We've got to be careful of both of those ditches. One of the ditches is being liberal. You know, when the heart starts to depart from the Lord, there's a tendency for us to go off into liberalism, to let our guard down and to go back into Egypt and to return to our former state as the sow returns to its woewing in the mire.

And that's a tendency in church life. People go, in a sense, to the world. They begin to compromise God's Word.

Why? Because they don't have a heart. And they begin to backslide. It's been a problem with God's people for centuries.

Once the heart starts to lose its passion and love for the Lord Jesus, you leave your first love, you're either going to go back into liberalism and compromise and blend in with the world, or you can go to the other ditch. And that's the ditch of Phariseeism. The ditch that overreacts and ends up being proud and arrogant and elevating itself above everyone else and adding to the Bible.

And that's where we find the Jewish people in this whole attitude of Phariseeism. So let's just imagine for a minute. We've kind of set the stage here.

Just imagine for a minute this crowd of say 50 people, the priests, chief priests, officers, bringing Jesus into Pilate's judgment. And there they come to the hall and they stop before the hall and they stand there and they have a firm conviction in their heart. And that conviction is against entering this hall because in entering this hall, they feel like they would be defiled and they would not be able to participate in the Passover and the Passover meal.

And yet while they stand there, think about this, while they stand there thinking they're going to be defiled, by entering into this hall, they are defiled in their hearts, crying out for an innocent man to be crucified and murdered. And so many things are going on in their hearts. They are full of envy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

They are bitter towards the crowds that are following Him. They are full of anger and hatred towards Him. And so it's such a hypocritical thing that's happening right here that they have a conviction about not entering in.

It's a conviction that's based upon the commandment of men and that conviction, they stand strong on it. We're not going to go in there. As a matter of fact, if you read the story, Pilate has to go in and out and in and out.

I think about four or five times he's in and out. Jesus is on the inside. He's got to come out and talk to the Jews that have gathered on the outside because they're not coming in lest they should be defiled in the Passover.

And so here are people who have a conviction about not entering in lest they should be defiled when they themselves internally are incredibly defiled. And they are literally murderers and betrayers in their own heart. And so they become very scrupulous about this external defilement, yet they are oblivious to the internal defilement that would lead them to what Stephen would call murderers and betrayers in Acts chapter 7 as he accused the same group of murdering and betraying the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here's something amazing. Think about this. In an attempt to remain undefiled so that they might kill and eat the Passover lamb, they were completely defiled inwardly by calling for the murder of the true Passover lamb.

Can you imagine? I don't want to go into this building because I want to eat the Passover lamb in this wonderful Passover celebration, and in my heart, I am desirous of killing the real Passover because of my hatred and animosity towards them. I don't know. There's a lot of hypocrisy in the Bible, but this might be the greatest.

And this is what Jesus meant when He talked about a blindness and hypocrisy. They had no idea. They could not see, although they justified themselves as being religious, as having conviction, as doing the right thing.

So in their hearts, they were saying, let's make sure we as a holy people are not to go into this judgment hall while at the same time spewing out, crucify Him! from their mouths. Murdering an innocent man. Now, I know that we probably don't see ourselves in that, but maybe we should consider.

I read a quote here. I want to give you this quote. It goes back a few hundred years, but some of the English is a little different.

Let me read to you what it says. How much more particular men are to seem clean on the outside than to be clean on the inside? Very few men or women will go to church in their working dress, that's an old phrase there, your work clothes, or with untidy garments of any sort, but a great many men and women will go to church without any mental or spiritual preparation for the services there. I wonder if you've spent a lot of time getting ready outside.

How much have you done today on the inside to get ready to come here? Ten times more attention is commonly paid on a Sunday morning to blackening the boots, that means polishing them, and to arranging the hair and to putting on one's best clothing in the showiest way than to family prayer and to private devotions in getting ready for church. How many of you got ready for church this morning internally in your private devotional life? It is a very rare thing for a person to go to church without washing the face and hands in advance of the start from home. It is not as rare for one to go to church without an attempt to clean up on the inside.

Very often a mother will tell a teacher that her little boy or little girl doesn't come to Sunday school because of a lack of decent clothing. More rarely does a mother admit that her boy or girl is so viciously disposed as to endanger the morals of the other scholars in her child's class. Is there such a great difference after all in the spirit of our neighbors, not to include ourselves, nowadays, and the spirit of those Jews who would plan to crucify Jesus but would shrink from going into their religious services with soiled hands and defiled garments? And that's probably, if you look up the definition of hypocrisy in the Bible, there's a good one right there.

Willing to crucify Jesus and to... And by the way, Pilate asked them why. What evil has he done? And they couldn't bring an accusation. In their heart that was full of envy and jealousy and bitterness and hatred, they came but yet they were so concerned about entering into the hall lest they should be defiled.

Well, I think about what about us because all Scriptures are given by inspiration of God. What about us? Our own personal life. Can we be so scrupulous about external defilement while harboring hatred and bitterness toward our brother in our own heart? I'd like you to turn to where Jesus addresses this in Mark 7. Let's look there for a minute.

Mark 7. And I'm not going to read this whole account, but he talks about traditions and commandments and doctrines of men in Mark 7. I'm going to jump in here in verse 3. Mark 7, verse 3. For the Pharisees and all the Jews except they washed their hands off, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. There's that tradition. And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not, and many other things there be which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups and pots and braids and vessels and of tables.

Everything was defiled, so you had to wash everything. Then the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? Why do you let your disciples eat with dirty hands? Don't you know that you're supposed to be going through these ceremonial washings? He answered and said to them, well, as Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people on earth be with their lips. Outwardly, they speak of Me.

Outwardly, they say we're not going into this hall, lest we should be defiled. But inwardly, their heart is far from Me. And that's the problem with the Jewish people.

Outwardly, they've had an appearance and they even spoke out conviction, but inwardly, their heart was far from them. Verse 7, Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Now jump down here, and I'm not going to read the whole thing, but look down to verse 14.

He continues, And when He had called all the people unto Him, He said unto them, Hearken unto Me, every one of you, and understand. Here's some important words from the Lord. Hearken unto Me and understand.

There is nothing from without a man, outside of a man, that entering into him can defile him. It's not about what's coming from the outside in that's defiling. It's not about that hall, Jewish people.

It's not about that floor that you walk on. It's not about those walls that you're inside of. It's not about the air that you breathe.

It's not about what is outside of you, entering in you that defiles you, but the things which come out of him. Those are they which defile the man. Here's where real defilement is.

It's coming from inside of you. And you think about those individuals who stood there and brought Jesus to Pilate and their concern about defilement and how that defilement was in that building. And that building may bring defilement into us.

They were looking at it totally wrong, weren't they? And yet inside of them, there was such corrupt defilement. Let's keep reading here in verse 17. And when He had entered into the house from the people, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable.

This is a new philosophy. Lord, what are You talking about? You know, for us, we might hear that and we might say, well, that's obvious. We've learned those things.

But to the Jewish mind, these things were new. What are You talking about? Teach us what You're talking about. Verse 18, He said unto them, Are you so without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatsoever thing from without entering into the man, it cannot defile him? Because it entereth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats.

This is talking specifically about food. And a good example of, you can't eat this. You can't eat that.

You need to wash your hands before you eat. You need to go through ceremonial cleansings before you eat, because you don't want to be defiled from something coming from without. And then verse 20, and He gives a lesson here.

He says, That which cometh out of the man, that defiles the man. Not that which is coming into the man, but what is coming out of the man. That defiles the man.

For from within, out of the heart of man proceeds evil thoughts. You know what defiles us? Evil thoughts. I don't know about you.

Do you really, really pay real close attention to your thought life? I mean, you ought to pay real close attention to your thought life. You want to talk about being defiled. Talk about that which is coming up out of you.

That's what the Lord is concerned about, that real defilement. An evil thought life. How about adulteries? Those things that are within you.

Those adulterous thoughts. Those adulterous desires. Those adulterous fantasies.

Those are the things that defile God's people. Fornication. Young people.

How about your thought life? How about your thought life? What is in your heart? What is your imagination like? What are you thinking? Are you with this young lady and this young man and you're having immoral thoughts? You know, that's where the church is being defiled. Amen? There's 101 different things. People talk about those things that come from the outside.

Touch not, taste not, handle not. And all these commandments and doctrines of men. But really, the Lord says, here's what's defiling us.

Here's where our spirituality is being taken down. Murders. Oh, who murders? Nobody murders, right? You know, Jesus said, if you hate your brother, that idea of hating, having animosity in your heart, that is what defiles you and me.

Thefts and covetousness. Desires for things that other people have. Coveting them.

You in your heart are thinking about, I would love to have what brother so-and-so has or I would love to be in the position so-and-so is in. And your thoughts are towards stealing or coveting another man's position or another man or woman's possessions. Wickedness.

That means thoughts just you're trying to harm people. Evil. Deceit.

You're trying to deceive. Thoughts about deception in your heart. Lasciviousness.

An evil eye. Blasphemy. Pride.

You're elevating yourselves above others. Foolishness. You know, God is interested in what's going on in that secret place.

Amen? That's what's defiling people. Go out there and get a bunch of mud on you and eat some things that have dirt or you swallow something, you chew your apple that has a worm in it. All these things that we are so concerned about defiling us, coming from without, but the Lord says the thing that's truly defiling is what's coming from the inside.

Verse 23, all these evil things come from within and defile the man. And I've tried for years to encourage us to really look inside and not outside because it's inside that is what's defiling and hindering the work of God and hindering our own spirituality and keeping our motives pure, keeping our thought life pure. These are the things that are defiling.

Those things that are within. And that is where I think our focus ought to be. And I trust your focus is there.

Every thought. Real defilement. Here's the problem though with humanity.

I know you all understand this, that the real defilement is on the inside. The problem with that is that people can't see what's on the inside. So I can be up here and have real defilement on the inside and you not be able to see it.

And so it doesn't concern me that much because you can't see it. And so I don't pay much attention to it because it doesn't alarm anyone today or it doesn't cause you some anxiety because you can't see it. But if I come here today and I have a pair of shorts on and I have dyed my hair orange, you're going to have real problems with that because you can see it.

And if I'm defiled on the outside, I didn't wash my face, I have bad breath, and my shirt is all a mess, it's probably going to cause a problem because it's something that is easily seen. And so, what do human beings do? Because they know that if they outside don't look right, they are easily picked off. The inside, they can be bad and get away with it.

Therefore, their focus is on the outside. It's human nature. Everybody is going to see it if I don't have my outsides in order, so I better get that in order.

And ultimately, what we become is just a bunch of men-pleasers. I'm going to be who I am and represent myself in a certain way because I'm wanting to please the people who I'm around. And so, the most important thing for them to see is how I look on the outside.

And yet, biblically, what's really important is how we look on the inside. And that's where hypocrisy comes from. Hypocrisy is simply me representing myself outwardly that I'm not inwardly.

Outwardly, they appear righteous unto men, but inwardly, they are ravening wolves. So let's make sure that our focus is on the inside and not end up in the same situation that these do or these here are, complaining or standing up against going into Pilate's hall lest they be defiled when they were totally defiled on the inside. Let's keep reading here in John 18.

I want to bring out something else in their life that we ought to consider. Verse 29, it says, "...Pilate then went out unto them and said, What accusation bring you against this man? They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor or a criminal or a bad person, we would not have delivered him up unto thee." In other words, Pilate, take our word for it. The truth of the matter is they had no real evidence, but they wanted him crucified, and so they're asking him to take their word for it.

Now, I'm not going to take the time to read it, but in Luke chapter 23, they brought a couple of different accusations against him before Pilate. Number one, he's stirring up the nation. Number two, he's telling people not to pay their taxes.

And number three, I think he's claiming to be the son of God. Well, most of them were false accusations. Truly, he was the son of God, but the accusations were irrelevant.

And now we're going to see here in verse 31 another form of this hypocrisy. And I encourage you all to get rid of, and me, to get rid of this form of hypocrisy. Verse 31, "...Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him and judge him according to your law.

The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death." Does anybody notice anything hypocritical about that statement? Can you imagine? It is not lawful, Pilate, for us to put any man to death. How many times have they already tried to stone him? Numerous times. As a matter of fact, if you go back early in his ministry, while he was at Nazareth, they surrounded him and tried to throw him off of a cliff down the side of a hill to kill him.

There was multiple times when they tried to stone him. John 10, 31, we've read previously, "...Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him." They were willing to stone him, desirous of stoning him, but he eluded them. Here they brought a woman, taking an adultery.

They wanted him to stone the woman. And then, of course, in Acts chapter 7, you have the stoning of Stephen and James, where James was martyred and Stephen was stoned. Now here's something I noticed here in these Pharisees and something I noticed in my own life, and maybe you see it also, is that they have conviction only on the basis of convenience.

They have conviction only on the basis of convenience. In our society, we call it situational ethics. Situational ethics.

My ethics are based upon the situation that I am in. When it's time to stone him, when nobody's watching, I'm all for it. Let's stone him! And we're standing before Pilate.

We don't stone people. We don't kill people. You know that.

Situational ethics. It's like this. I'll give you some examples.

When I ride with my brother in the car, I keep my speed under the speed limit. But if the situation changes and I'm by myself, I go over the speed limit. Now, is that any different than what these Jews are doing? Well, it depends on the situation.

In other words, my conviction only goes to the level of someone looking at me and observing me, but if I can get by with it in secret, I'll do it. And I thought about some of these. Some of these I've gone through in the last couple of weeks.

Brother Mike here mentioned about the township laws that we have. And I don't know what our township law is. I'm assuming it's the same.

He mentioned in a brother's meeting, you know, we have township laws and regulations about burning. This time of the year, you can only burn after 6 o'clock. And he mentioned a couple of things about their township laws.

How many of us follow the ordinances of men and have conviction? God says to obey the authorities. How many of us obey the authorities with conviction? Or do we do the same way the Jews are? If it fits me, I will. If it doesn't fit me, I won't.

So I'm in the back loading up some brush this week. It's the middle of the day. I think about what Brother Mike said.

Nobody's there. There's a struggle. I want to burn.

I'll give you another one I go through. I believe that we ought to obey the ordinances of men. That's why I wear a mask in public places.

But it's easy to put that on here, because I know there are brothers here that agree and do the same thing. But I guarantee you, when I go up to Hicksville, I go up to Hicksville, nobody in the church has a mask. And I sit there, and it's a challenge.

Do I have a conviction that I am serving the Lord, and even if I'm by myself here, I do this on the basis of my love for Jesus Christ and my conviction, not on my surroundings. And who is here? So some of you ladies, you know you wear a head covering in church and before people, but when the situation changes and you're all alone or in other places, you remove it. That's what you call situational ethics.

Depending on my situation, this is my conviction. If Jesus, we've got Him over here on the side on a hill, if we can kill Him, we'll kill Him. But if we're standing before Pilate, we don't do those things.

You know that. The Roman law says we shouldn't do it. Are our convictions based upon our situation or upon our heart? I have a conviction against debt.

Some of you probably have a conviction against debt. I'm just throwing some things out here that I think about and go through. But when you get into a tight spot, you know, a real tight one, well, you go and pull out the credit card or you go into debt.

And so your conviction moves all over the place. If it's convenient, I'll do it. If it's not convenient, I won't do it.

Here's one that I've been battling with. I think I talked to one brother here. When I first started at the church here and we began to fellowship with different brothers and I understood that you could take a social security exemption and get out of paying social security taxes and you had to fill out a form that you had a conviction.

And that conviction was that you didn't want to take government assistance, Medicare, social security, all that stuff. So I signed my name to it. I never thought I'd reach 65.

But you know what? I've been observing. More and more people wonder. They turn 65 and they're taking social security checks.

Why is that? Situational ethics. I have a conviction. Well, it's convenient.

But then when push comes to shove, I no longer have a conviction. And that's the same thing the Jews did. The same attitude.

So it's wrong, the Jews were saying, for us to put a man to death until the situation changes. I guess we ought to ask ourselves this question because really we need to have some convictions that will stay us through whether we're alone or in the crowd. What do you believe anyway? Do you believe some of these things that we've been going through the Scriptures? Do you have a conviction enough to, as one brother was sharing, to die for it? Or are your convictions moving all over the place? I imagine following these religious leaders and seeing them in one place attempt to kill Jesus and now before Pilate saying, well, it's not lawful for us to kill Him.

And the confusion that that would bring. I like to use this word inconsistent. You know, I believe this.

I believe the Bible, I've been teaching it for many years, it's a consistent book. I don't find these contradictions that people are talking about. God's Word is consistent and I believe that our lives ought to be a consistent life.

The Bible says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That's consistency. I think that Christianity ought to have a testimony of consistency.

I know this brother. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He has a conviction against debt.

It doesn't matter what comes into his life. He's going to stay faithful. He has a conviction about a head covering.

It doesn't matter what situation he's in. He's going to remain faithful. They have conviction, not based upon their circumstance, but based upon their fear of God and their desire to serve Him.

And I believe Christianity ought to have a testimony of consistency to the world. If that is not our testimony in this world, there's going to be confusion in society. And I have no doubt.

Look over to verse number 38. Pilate says these words to Jesus. Pilate said unto Him, What is truth? Jesus has just said that He has come to bear witness of the truth and everyone that hears of the truth hears His voice.

And Pilate says, What is truth? And I think our society is getting to that place. Many people are saying, There's so much inconsistency. There's so much hypocrisy.

There's so much moving from place to place and position to position. People are starting to think, What is the truth anymore? And I have no doubt that the society that Pilate lived in, not only in the Roman society, but also the Jews. The Jews were known to be hypocrites.

The Jews were known to be men-pleasers. And they moved from place to place, position to position. And so Pilate looks at Jesus and says, What is truth? There's no standard for truth.

And I think people are getting frustrated in our day. There's so much moving, disinformation, changing of conviction. And after a while, people just say, Ah, what is truth? And we need to be careful that we as a church don't end up in the same predicament.

We ought to be able to be consistent here. Our lives, our testimony, because we are the light of the world, even the church today is failing. Paul said this to Timothy, 1 Timothy 3.15, that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth.

Isn't that amazing? The church is. The church is the pillar and the ground of truth. The ground is the foundation, and it's the pillar that holds it up.

If the church starts to be inconsistent with the truth, then the truth is going to collapse. And people like Pilate out in the world are going to say, What is truth anymore? It used to be there was a standard. Divorce was wrong.

Remarriage was adultery. It used to be homosexuality was sin. It used to be, used to be, used to be, but everybody is all over the place.

So when it comes to what is truth anymore? Well, Paul says the church is the pillar and ground of truth. And that world, when they look at us, they ought to see truth consistently applied. Amen? This is what the truth is supposed to represent.

The church of Jesus Christ. The pillar and ground of the truth. So not only has the world gone bonkers, but the church is also inconsistent.

Compromising. So if the church has little conviction of truth, then we will find that our world will ask the same question as Pilate. What is truth? So when you live in a world that's dark and the church is not the light, you know you can always, in a world where the church is the light, you can always look over there and say, There's the truth.

There's the way it ought to be right there. You see how a family ought to be? Right there. You see how you ought to live your financial life? Look at the church.

It's always a pillar and a standard for the truth. But when the church starts to compromise and to vacillate in its conviction, the world looks over for a light and there's no light. And it's like there's confusion.

What is truth? And so we have a responsibility, as Jesus said, you are the light of the world. And you let that light go dark and the world's going to be in confusion. Inconsistency.

Inconsistency. That's one area that I think about in my own life a lot and I also observe other people's lives. And one of the things I think, if you're following truth, your life will be consistent.

Consistent. Let me give you an example here and I'll close. Look at Luke 13.

Jesus oftentimes, He brought out the inconsistency of the nation of Israel and especially these Jewish leaders. And here's one good example of it. How people get so inconsistent in their belief systems.

Luke 13, verse 10, it says, As He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, and behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together and could in no wise lift herself up. And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God.

And here's these religious rulers. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which man ought to work, in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. And the Lord responds to this man.

The Lord then answered him and said, Thou hypocrite, you are inconsistent. You're a hypocrite. And here's why.

Doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? Ah, yeah, we do that. My cows, you know, my cows go, they start crying on the Sabbath day. And I labor and lead them out to let them have some refreshment and water them.

I do the same thing with my goats. I do the same thing with my sheep. And verse 16, Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day.

You see, fellas, you're very inconsistent. Here you are willing to let a cow find refreshment on the Sabbath day, and yet this woman cannot find refreshment and healing on the Sabbath? That's pretty inconsistent. And you know, one of the things you'll find if you're off the truth, you're not following the truth, life will become very inconsistent.

Your religious system will become very inconsistent. Confusing. How can this be and then this be? How can it be a sin to lead your cow to watering or not a sin to lead your cow to watering in a sin to heal someone on the Sabbath? One of the things I do, I like this idea of consistency.

I say, if I'm in truth, what I'm teaching and what I'm living is going to be consistent. Consistent. Let me ask you this.

Is your belief system consistent from place to place, from situation to situation? Consistency. And so these individuals who brought Jesus to Pilate exemplified hypocrisy. They exemplified within themselves they were full of bitterness and anger and hatred and unforgiveness.

Outwardly concerned about defiling themselves by entering into Pilate's hall. Not only that, their life was inconsistent. Willing to stone Jesus if the situation was right and yet standing before Pilate and saying we cannot because the law says that we must not.

So that's another form of hypocrisy. And so as a brotherhood and as sisters I think we should examine our hearts and look within ourselves for defilement. That's really what God is concerned about.

But also, look at our life. Do we hold convictions consistent in every situation? Or are we tossed to and fro in our convictions? You know the only way to hold a conviction consistently is to serve God and to fear Him. I would never, the Jews should say, stone a man, kill a man, because the authority has commanded us not to.

Convictions. Let's have convictions that are consistent. And I could have listed many, many other ones here this morning.

So let's search our heart and let's make sure we're not in this group who brings Jesus to Pilate and are being hypocritical. Let's close this morning. We'll have work to do.