Dear Christian friends:

Every Sunday when we confess our faith in the Creed, we say "He (Jesus) suffered under Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate is the most famous, best known of all Romans, more famous than any caesar, because he was the man responsible for judging Jesus and deciding to let Him be crucified. Every Sunday, in Christian churches all over the world people say these words "He (Jesus) suffered under Pontius Pilate." Pilate did not know he would become so famous, really infamous.

Although Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, he, for political reasons decided against Jesus. The Jewish Council also decided against Jesus. Their responsibility and punishment will be worse. They knew better than Pilate. They had God's Word, the prophecies about the Christ whom God promised through the prophets. And Jesus had fulfilled all these prophecies. Although they knew better, they decided against Jesus. They will be punished worse than Pilate.

Both Pilate and the Jewish Council made wrong, bad, decisions about Jesus. Yet God used their wrong doing to send His Son on the way of sorrows to the cross on Golgotha (hill seem like a skull) God did this and used their wrong decisions to show His amazing love. God loved us sinners so much that He gave His only Son to suffer the sin punishment of all people. Pilate's condemning Jesus to die on the cross was not accidental! That was part of God's plan to save the world.

On the cross Jesus satisfied and vanished God's anger against sin and sinners. Jesus resurrection on Easter morning proved that. Therefore, all who believe in Jesus for their Savior receive forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation as a free gift of God's grace. That is the meaning of Jesus' death on the cross.

Tonight we must decide about Jesus either choose Jesus or Satan? We, same as the Jewish Council, have heard God's Word about Jesus. As Pilate asked the Jews, same he asks us, "Which one do you want? The Jews chose the murder, Satan's servant, Barabbas, and rejected Jesus. Which will we choose?

I. We can decide to delay accepting Jesus.

Those who delay to follow Jesus are attracted by the world. These people use their time, skills, money and strength seeking for worldly pleasures. They have no time, money or energy left to serve Jesus. These people let the world push Jesus out of their lives. Finally, their time to decide for Jesus will end. Each time they reject Jesus and embrace the world they move closer to eternal condemnation in hell. They must respect and believe in Jesus before their time is finished. Perhaps their is someone here tonight who is not yet decided for Jesus. Perhaps you are here because you are curious, or because you feel responsible, but you do not really love Jesus. Perhaps you are a hypocrite, now is the time to repent and believe in Jesus. To which one do you belong, Jesus or Satan? What do you prefer, life or death, joy or grief happiness or sorrow, Heaven or Hell? Don't be like Pontius Pilate trying to evade the decision.

II. We can decide with cold hearts to turn our back on Jesus. God, who loves these people, who wishes that their cold hearts will change and warm up to Him, will not force them to believe. God will not drag them screaming and kicking into heaven. Same as the Jewish Council, they decided against Jesus, although they know God's Word. They, like the Jewish Council members, will receive the worst punishment in hell. God really loves them and wants them to repent, but if they stubbornly reject His love, He will give them what they ask and demand, eternity without Him in hell.

III. We can also accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord.

However we must remember that we, ourselves can't make that decision. By our own reason and strength we cannot believe in Jesus Christ our Lord or come to Him. Our own sinful nature prevents us from believing in Him. We can decide against Him, but we cannot decide for Him. The Holy Spirit must break down our stubborn resistance and make us sorry and lead us to faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit does this work in our hearts through baptism, through the Good News preaching and through the Lord's Supper. Without the Holy Spirit all of us would shout against Jesus and sin more and more, worse and worse! But because the Holy Spirit has called us to faith and because He keeps us believing, we belong to Jesus now on earth and forever in heaven.

Although we can't decide to be Christians ourselves, we can decide how much we will love and serve Jesus. Although we are Christians, we can be poor stewards of His gifts. We can decide to let other hands do Christ's work. We can decide to let other voices sing of the joy we have in Him. We can decide to let other feet lead people to Jesus. But if we make these decisions we are forgetting something. We are forgetting what Christ has done for us. Jesus was not selfish as we often are. Jesus did no sin, yet He became sinner for us. We could not keep the Law, so Jesus kept it for us. We could not pay for our sins so Jesus paid for us. We could not conquer death, so Jesus defeated death for us. We must not forget Jesus' love. There is no love like His.

So I ask, "How will we respond to His love?" Will our hands be busy doing other work, not our Lords? Will our voices sing other songs, not the Gospel songs? Will our feet walk in other ways, not our Lord's?

During the Second World War a church in Strasbourg, Germany was destroyed by enemy planes bombing the city. The church seemed fully destroyed. But when the members began taking away the rubble (broken stones), they found the statue of Jesus still standing. It was not damaged except both hands were broken off. Finally they began to rebuild the church. A sculptor saw the statue with no hands and volunteered to make new hands and join them to the statue. The church officers had a meeting and discussed the sculptor's offer. They decided to leave the statue remain without hands. Why? They said, "Our broken statue touches our hearts, but we know Jesus has no hands to minister to the needy and hungry, except our hands. He inspires. We perform! That church is responding to Jesus' love. Let us do the same! Let us choose Jesus and serve Him!

Amen.