Series: Advent & Christmas

Preacher: Ps. Gabriel Wong

Date: 14th December 2025

Passage: John 18:28-40

Sermon Summary:

We learned in the past two weeks that Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Lk. 19:10), and to give life—life to the full. (Jn. 10:10) He tells us this week that He came to bear witness to the truth (Jn. 18:37), yet Scripture gives us an example of how the world behaves when it is confronted by the truth. Of how we can behave when we are confronted by the truth. 

John 18:28-40 shows us three examples through the Pharisees, Pilate, and the Jews who chose to save Barabbas. Although Jesus had borne witness again and again to His identity as the Son of God, the Pharisees chose to assume their own truth. They believed instead that He was doing evil (v.30), and that by proclaiming His identity, He was blaspheming against God. (Matt. 26:65) How can the truth be blasphemous unless we choose to assume otherwise?

When Pilate had the chance to converse with Jesus, He had the rare opportunity to ask Jesus who He truly was. He does, in fact, ask Jesus if He is the King of the Jews, but this is said with the same dismissive attitude with which he asks Jesus, “What is truth?” Do we make the same mistake in today’s relativistic society, where truth is no longer absolute? Instead of pursuing truth and wrestling with all the discomfort it brings, have we grown comfortable and complacent with our own versions of the truth?

Lastly, the Jews who chose to save Barabbas instead of Jesus show us that we don’t just assume our own truths or ignore truth. We actively despise the truth. They would rather save Barabbas, a known criminal and murderer, the instigator of a rebellion, over the actual Son of God. But don’t we do the same every time we sin? Every time we choose the pleasures but the dangers of sin over what is good, holy, pure, and true?