Luke 22:60-23:25 (New Living Translation)
60 But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.
61 At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.” 62 And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.
63 The guards in charge of Jesus began mocking and beating him. 64 They blindfolded him and said, “Prophesy to us! Who hit you that time?” 65 And they hurled all sorts of terrible insults at him.
66 At daybreak all the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council, 67 and they said, “Tell us, are you the Messiah?”
But he replied, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. 68 And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. 69 But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.”
70 They all shouted, “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?”
And he replied, “You say that I am.”
71 “Why do we need other witnesses?” they said. “We ourselves heard him say it.”
23:1 Then the entire council took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor. 2 They began to state their case: “This man has been leading our people astray by telling them not to pay their taxes to the Roman government and by claiming he is the Messiah, a king.”
3 So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus replied, “You have said it.”
4 Pilate turned to the leading priests and to the crowd and said, “I find nothing wrong with this man!”
5 Then they became insistent. “But he is causing riots by his teaching wherever he goes—all over Judea, from Galilee to Jerusalem!”
6 “Oh, is he a Galilean?” Pilate asked. 7 When they said that he was, Pilate sent him to Herod Antipas, because Galilee was under Herod’s jurisdiction, and Herod happened to be in Jerusalem at the time.
8 Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle. 9 He asked Jesus question after question, but Jesus refused to answer. 10 Meanwhile, the leading priests and the teachers of religious law stood there shouting their accusations. 11 Then Herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing Jesus. Finally, they put a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. 12 (Herod and Pilate, who had been enemies before, became friends that day.)
13 Then Pilate called together the leading priests and other religious leaders, along with the people, 14 and he announced his verdict. “You brought this man to me, accusing him of leading a revolt. I have examined him thoroughly on this point in your presence and find him innocent. 15 Herod came to the same conclusion and sent him back to us. Nothing this man has done calls for the death penalty. 16 So I will have him flogged, and then I will release him.”
18 Then a mighty roar rose from the crowd, and with one voice they shouted, “Kill him, and release Barabbas to us!” 19 (Barabbas was in prison for taking part in an insurrection in Jerusalem against the government, and for murder.) 20 Pilate argued with them, because he wanted to release Jesus. 21 But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
22 For the third time he demanded, “Why? What crime has he committed? I have found no reason to sentence him to death. So I will have him flogged, and then I will release him.”
23 But the mob shouted louder and louder, demanding that Jesus be crucified, and their voices prevailed. 24 So Pilate sentenced Jesus to die as they demanded. 25 As they had requested, he released Barabbas, the man in prison for insurrection and murder. But he turned Jesus over to them to do as they wished.
I. Kingdom-minded leaders get over what they’re under (vv. 60-65)
• Quitting makes
• Enablement loves
• Weeping is an essential part of
• We get over what we are under when we
• If you have not
II. Kingdom-minded leaders aren’t entertainers (vv. 66-71)
• The
• Sin habits can leave us incapable of
• Jesus is Son of God and Son of Man which is the essential Christian doctrine of the
• Church people can become weapons of
III. Kingdom-minded leaders don’t poll for direction (23:1-25)
• We are never closer to Satan than when we
• Spiritual leaders don’t have
• Good leaders
• Bad leaders
• Polling ignores the nature of leadership as a
TAKE OFF
1. GTKY question: Share a circumstance when you decided to follow the crowd.
2. Last week’s Take Away was about responding to difficult circumstances with prayer, does anyone have any stories of victory they experienced over the last week?
TEXT
Luke 22:63-23:25
1. What thoughts or feelings did you have during this week’s sermon?
2. What are the five people/groups that Jesus faces in this passage and what does each do to him? Which of the people/groups had the most authority? Which group actually made the final decision of what would happen to Jesus?
3. Pilate three times declared Jesus innocent of the Jewish leader’s charges (Luke 23:4, 13-14, 22), yet he still allows Jesus to be crucified. How did Pilate get to that point? How is Pilate’s giving into pressure similar to or different from Peter’s failure (Luke 22:54-62)? Which betrayal would have hurt Jesus more?
4. What is dangerous about giving into the crowd or pressure from others? Are there any situations where listening to the majority is a good thing?
TAKE AWAY
Is there an area of your life (family, job, serve team) where you have authority, but you have let other people have more say so than is appropriate? What can do you this week to start leading in a godly way?