Pontius Pilate

uh sometimes uh you know you have one of those weeks how many of y'all have ever had one of those kind of weeks you know where it's like you got like everything kind of going where you thought it was going to go but then it kind of takes a really bad turn and and then all of things begin to pile up and it's like so I've had one of those and uh so I don't know how this sermon is goingon to go this morning so we're just going to pray for uh uh the Lord to intervene uh despite my uh stumbling and bumbling and and

and uh trying to to work through the text uh but it but it really is an amazing text and probably the first time I've gotten into a a character study like this so turn your Bibles uh to Luke chapter 23 Luke chapter 23 and uh we're gonna read uh this portion verse 1 through 25 and uh Lord willing God is going to open some things up to us today all right okay um starting in verse one of Luke chapter 23 here's what it says then the whole multitude of them arose and led him Jesus to pilate and they began to accuse him saying we found

this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar saying that he himself is Christ a king and pilate asked him saying are you the king of the Jews he answered him and said it is as you say so pilate said to the chief priests and the crow I find no fault in this man but they were more Fierce saying he stirs up the people teaching through out all Judea beginning From Galilee to this place when pilate heard of Galilee he asked if the man were a Galilean and as soon as he knew that he belonged to herod's jurisdiction he sent him to

Herod who was also in Jerusalem at the time now when Herod saw Jesus he was exceedingly glad for he had desired for a long time to see him because he had heard many things about him and he hoped to see some miracle done by him then he questioned him with many words but he answered him nothing and the chief priests and scribes stood behem and accused him and Herod with his Men of War treated him with contempt and mock him and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to pilate on that very day pilate and Herod became friends with each other for

pre previously they had had been at enmity with each other then pilate when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people said to them you've brought this man to me as one who misleads the people and indeed having examined him in your presence I have found no fault in this man concerning those things of which you accuse him no neither did Herod for I sent you back to him and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by him I will therefore chastise him and release him for it was necessary for him to release one to them at the feast

and they all cried out at once saying away with this man and release to us barabus who had been thrown into prison for a certain Rebellion made in the city and for murder pilate therefore wishing to release Jesus again again called out to them but they shouted saying crucify him crucify him and he said to them the third time why what evil has he done I found no reason for death in him I will therefore chastise him and let him go but they were insistent demanding with loud voices that he be crucified and the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed so

pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested and he released to them the one they requested who he for who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison but he deliv delivered Jesus to their will let's pray father I pray now that U you would just bring to life this portion of scripture father help us to maybe see with fresh eyes some things that we have never seen before or remind us of things that maybe we've forgotten father help us to see these decisions and the the things that were determined in this trial and father help us as we walk away from

here today maybe having some insight into our own behavior in our own lives and to be able to apply the truth that we will hear and if there is someone today that doesn't know you doesn't know the truth I pray that before this time is done that they will enter into a relationship with you and father we'll be careful to give you all the praise and honor and glory for all that you will do in Jesus name amen amen now as we're as we're looking at this uh portion of scripture what what we want to see is that uh the the title of the sermon

is that this is Pontius Pilot's dilemma he had decisions that he need to make and and what happens is we see that he struggles in three particular ways struggles with truth and fear that leads to a path of compromise now we see that this story is actually played out in all four gospels and pilate is actually confirmed in in histor Ians of the time the problem was that there were Skeptics who doubted the existence of pilate they didn't think that this guy really existed because there was no archaeological evidence for it and just like God always always does he he once again has to show

us that uh what happens in 1962 that there was the pilot stone that was une was discovered in cesaria and here on that stone on that plaque it says and you can you can still make out some of the words it's written in Latin and it says tiberium ponus patus prefectus Udi so declaring that this man absolutely existed so let's talk about this and and see if we can gain some insight on who he was he was appointed in the year of ad. 26 he was the prefect or the procurator or term that we would use today he was the governor of Judea and what

that meant was is that he was Caesar's representative on the ground he was responsible and in charge of law order in the area and in particular he was in charge of the finances of Caesar and so you can see that this man was pivotal he was uh an important figure at this time he was also known to be a bloodthirsty and cruel man in fact Jesus refers to him in Luke 13 where one of the instances was that some Galatians had gone to the temple to worship and pilate sent people there sent his soldiers there and massacred them all one of the great historical things

that happened and actually got him in big trouble is that when he first entered into this rulership that he brought images of Caesar into Jerusalem and into the temple he set up he set up Shields with images of Caesar on them which eventually caused the uh the Sanhedrin the religious rulers of the day to send send a a a a letter to Tiberius to say this man is is causing us to blaspheme and what we see is that Caesar actually sends him a warning to say Hey listen you're messing things up here I mean I sent you to be ruler there and I want peace

all over our Province and you're causing unrest by how you're treating the people and So eventually what happens is he kind of you know he kind of chills out and actually this is all part of what's Happening Here is that we see that this was a pivotal moment within scripture we see that this that all of this comes to culmination three years of Jesus's Ministry that he had been teaching and preaching and miracles had been performed form all along the way we see that you know as people heard as people began to tell the stories of this one who is called Jesus that the religious

power structure began to be threatened they be like wait wait a wait who who's this guy who does he think he is and what is he doing I mean he's he's making claims about things and they tried to come and listen to a sermon and tried to RP him up tried to trap him and tried to stop it all throughout the the ministry of Jesus and what happens is is that and as we know and as we take kind of a a survey of the life of Jesus that Jesus along the way has been telling and reminding his disciples now know that who I am

and what's going going to happen to me he he reminds them in saying listen I'm I'm going to be crucified I'm I'm going to be put to death they didn't want to hear that they wanted to hear about a king who would come and who would take take the the seat or the throne who would put their enemies down and it all culminates with one of the the greatest Miracles that Jesus performed when he was here and bringing Lazarus back to life turn with me to John 11 and you see that as a result of Jesus bringing Lazarus back from the dead we see that

now they've had enough John chap 11 is where we see that the final pieces are put together of the plot to kill killed Jesus here's what it says it says verse 45 then many of the Jews who had come to Mary had seen the things that Jesus did believed in him but some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things that Jesus did then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a counsel and said what shall we do for this man Works many signs if we let him alone like this everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come and

take away both our place and nation and one of them Caiaphas being high priest that year said to them you know nothing at all nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish H now this he did not say on his own authority but being high priest that year he prophesied what how Jesus would die for the nation and not for that Nation only but also he would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad then from that day they plotted to put him to

death we see that his fate was sealed now they would begin to behind the scenes and we know that the next things that happen what happens is that the events in Jerusalem begin to transpire is that as he comes into Jerusalem on that day where they cry out Hosanna Hosanna and they lay down palm branches and he goes into the temple and he turns over it it's all beginning to all the dominoes are beginning to fall all the things it's it's it's happening so quick just in a few days the events at Jerusalem and during the Passover the high Feast when all of the people

are gathered together to celebrate the Passover that it's all being played out the drama of what we see is happening and this is where pilate comes into to the scene now it's interesting to know that pilate usually was in cesaria that's where he would stay but he was in Jerusalem at this time to make sure that there was no unrest make sure he could keep an eye on things and so as they take Jesus into the kangaroo court of taking him before anus and Caiaphas and they begin to drum up the charges that they are grilling Jesus about are you the Christ are you the

Messiah and then they know that they must put him to death they come together and say what else do we need to hear he said and makes himself equal with God but the thing was is that they couldn't put Jesus to death see at that time Rome had taken away that right or ability to put people to death and so they knew well then what we have to do is we have to get the Romans to put him to death and what's also interesting is that their form of putting someone to death would have been to Stone Jesus so bringing him before Pilate they knew

that he would put him to death by crucifixion he was fulfilling scripture even in the manner of death and so early in the morning they come after they've had Jesus all night and they've beaten him and they've mocked him and they bring him early in the morning they bring him before Pilate and he says all right what are the charges now as as we talked about earlier that the fact is is that we actually see this uh all play out in all of the other gospels and so we're going to try to P together and and I would highly recommend that you do that if

you if you have never seen all of the different places is to look in all of the the places where Pilot uh plays out in this in this uh uh judgment in all of these gospels and you'll see how a full picture comes and he says well what are the what are the charges why why are you bringing them to me you you deal with him they say well you know he's of course he's a malactor and this is no no big deal you just deal with him as as as you would but understand that the charges are very severe the charges were subversion he

was subverting the people stirring up the people that he was teaching the people not to pay Roman taxes and he was claiming to be the king now see that was the final piece that of course pilot ears began to perk up see because this was this was a charge that he must deal with an Insurrection must be put down now he takes Jesus into the pretorium he begins to interview he begins to question he says are you the king of the Jews and in each one of the go gospels we hear little little pieces and and parts of what he's saying Jesus asked him is

that your idea or is this something that somebody else has told you pilate says what am I am I a Jew what have you done they've made many accusations against you what have you done Jesus says see my kingdom is not of this world see if it were then my followers would rise up my kingdom is not of this world well then are you a king then Jesus says well as as you say but I came to testify of the truth and anyone who knows the truth listens to me and pilate asks a critical question he says what is truth what is trueth now one

of the things we know is that this is the question of all questions and and as I see pilate in my mind's eye asking this question I wonder is he is he mocking him or is this a sincere question what is true what is trueth in fact that is the question that comes up in every trial that is played out all over the world what is the truth this is the question for our our time would you agree with that what is truth I think there are many people that are asking that question today what is truth it's the question that we must struggle with

with all of the especially at this season at this time of the year a lot of political talk not a lot of truth going on but is the truth for us we need to be able to answer that question and the interesting thing is is that as pilate is doing the interview and the Inquisition that as he's asking this question he is actually staring into the eyes of Truth personified Jesus is the truth and then he makes the Declaration the first time he says I find no fault in this man in fact you see him actually making that declaration throughout all the gospels anywhere from

three to five times where he says I find no fault in this man he has he has made the Declaration I I I I I don't know what you're accusing him of and whatever you're accusing him of is surely not worthy of death now I got to stop here what's called an Exposition point I want to explain something as what's going on is that what we see is that behind the scenes of all of this there are two things that are happening we see the Providence of God and we see the personal decisions of man you see because we know that even from the very

beginning that this has been prophesied we see it all throughout the prophecy of the coming messiah in Isaiah 53 where he was bruised he was wounded for our transgressions we see it all throughout all of the things that would tell us that this coming Messiah was going to be a suffering servant it was prophesied from the beginning and the thing to understand is that at the the same time that God is going to bring about his will in this trial and through pilate that he was going to use Pilot's personal decisions to accomplish his will you see because our God is an amazing chess player

that no matter what move you make he knows that's you're going to make the move and he knows how to counter the move to accomplish his will will in his victory and so what we see is is that he actually uses he uses pilot as a pawn to accomplish his will but he uses his own personal decisions to do so his own personal weaknesses and we're going to see those in just a moment so that's what's happening behind the scenes so the question the first thing is that we want to see and ask ourselves what do we do when we are confronted with the truth

what do we do when we're confronted with the truth and a decision that we need to make you know whenever we read scripture whenever we hear sermons preached there's something that needs to be applied to our lives some truth that we need to wrestle with and grapple with how do we do that what do we do how do we identify what the truth is do we know see because at the same time we're asking that there are people outside these walls today who are asking that same question everybody today has their own truth I've got truth and you've got your truth that's not true there

is one truth and again it's personified in the person of Jesus Christ and people are looking for the truth I believe that in my heart of hearts that people the people that you work with the people that you uh live in your neighborhood there are looking for truth if only we would share it with them I've had so many times where I've had people tell me as like you know I've never I've never had anybody talk to me about these things before I've always wanted to know I've always wanted to ask and the fact is is that statistics tell us that people are way more

willing to talk than ask questions than we are willing to share and so we need to know what the truth is and we need to be able to share that truth with others people are looking for the truth now we see that what happen happens is is that pilot is a good politician and so he tries to I'm going to figure out a way to get rid of this problem so he sends him to Herod Herod Antipas Herod is the one that had beheaded John the Baptist so he sends him to Herod said wait a minute he's he's From Galilee right okay okay yeah yeah

H that's that's that's herod's deal send him over to Herod now Herod was excited to see him because Herod wanted to see him do something some kind of Miracle or or perform for him and again Herod asks him questions and Jesus does not respond again in fulfillment of the scripture that Jesus we would be led like a lamb to the slaughter he would be DB before the shears he would not speak so Herod gets tired he says all right dress him up put a robe on him mocked him sends him back to Pilot now here's the point at which pilate and we see that his

his weaknesses begin to emerge and we all have them he begins to listen to all the voices in his head anybody ever have that problem yeah constantly listening to all the things all the all the noise all the voices in our head now what were those voices well he had of course Caesar's warning we have historical and historians that say historical proof that that uh uh Tiberius had sent a warning and saying listen if you don't you don't get this thing together what's going to happen is you're going to lose your position now to lose lose your position probably also meant that you're going to

lose your life so he had that in the back of his mind okay I gotta I got to figure out how to work this situation so it it pleases Caesar then he has the Jewish Sanhedrin now the the thing that we know is that pilate knew these guys right he knew that their motives were not right he kind of knew how they were scheming and they were slimy and trying to get away with something so he had the voice of the Sanhedrin and they're they're all they're all just shouting and and and and the one of the key points is that if you don't crucify

this this man you are no friend to Cesar at that moment that voice is crashing through his head and at the same time we find out in another gospel that his wife Mrs pilate had had some dreams and nightmares in the middle of the night and she sends him a note as he's sitting on the Judgment seat and says have nothing to do with this man he has caused me a great deal of of trouble in the night so she has had has had nightmares about this just and innocent man being put to death by her husband have nothing to do with them so she

has has a a voice and a part to play in all the voices in Pilot's head and so he's he's struggling he's like I have all these things what am what am I going to do and and again he tries he tries to come up with ways in which that he can get rid of this problem but fear begins to set in now I don't know about you but that's kind of what I see is the path that happens if I don't deal with truth properly fear begins is said in in my heart and in my life and the fear that happens with with pilate

is that he's got a fear of losing his position he's got a fear of losing respect among his countrymen and among the others he has a fear of how he looks to other people he has a fear of the unknown and those aren't exclusive to pilate do you agree with that somebody say Amen right fear of all these things what are the fears that you're struggling with what are the fears that you have to deal with I'll bet you have some fear sets in when we don't deal with truth fear sets in which will eventually lead to compromise now he thinks pilot thinks that okay

wait a minute hold on I know what I can do I'll Scourge him I'll chastise him I'll Scourge him now the scourging was a very severe treatment for a prisoner in fact again what we see in the scripture is that when he brings him back out after the scourging that he's hardly even recognizable as a man and he thinks okay wait a minute maybe that will assuage you know their as they're crying out for him to be put to death maybe this will be maybe there'll be a a little bit of compassion in their heart and they will finally back down so he scourges him

brings him out becomes even worse now they're beginning to cry and cry out crucify him crucify him and he he's like okay well one more time he's trying to figure out how can I how can I set this man free see because he knew what was right he knew what was true he was trying to find a way wait a minute there's this thing I we're supposed to let a prisoner free we'll we'll do a prisoner swap here and he presents to them the the choice all right uh you know this man and they want barabus who was barabus barabus was an insurrectionist he was

a murderer he was a strong man I mean people looked up to him as as one who had fought against their enemies and they say give us barabus and crucify Jesus what's interesting in that moment is that once again we actually see the Fulfillment of scripture in Jesus giving his life so one could be set free interesting thing about barabus is name means the son of the father so one son of father was given for another son and the father it's amazing thing but compromise leads to capitulation finally pilate has done everything that he thinks that he can possibly do and compromis led to capitulation

he just gave up he just gave in and finally says you take him do with him what you want but I wash my hands of this but the fact is is that he couldn't could he still is the one who is known as the one who made the final judgment to put Jesus to death I wash my hands of this pilate asks another crucial question in this moment the question is and the question for all of us and the question for all time what shall I do with this Jesus whom you call Christ now that's the question all of us must answer what have you

done with this man who is called Christ what have you personally done but at some point in your Christian Life somebody is going to ask that same question to you What then shall I do with this person and we who are believers need to be ready with an answer the Bible reminds us that we are to be ready with an answer at all times of the hope that is within us what is your answer how would you answer that question what am I to do what is truth what am I to do with all these things that that I I see and and he and

and and I've heard and and but what about but what about but what about question after question here's the fact of the matter is is that really as you begin to share with people that it really comes down to just a few questions and this is one of them what am I supposed to do next do you know what to do if somebody came and said that to you today and say you know what I want to have that relationship what am I supposed to do now do you know what to do my prayer is that you do know that you do know the answer

what are we to do with this one who is called Christ now pilate was crucial in all of this story but know that there's a little bit of pilot in all of us there's a little bit of pilot in all of us who are asking questions about truth who want to know what is the truth who need to answer who have who have looked into the eyes of Truth and yet there's something that's holding us back there's some fear you know our pastor last week gave us some challenges challenges to share to invite to give and maybe it is we've struggled with some fear in

those are curious because I'm not sure I can do that I'm not sure if I can I can I can I can give like that don't let fear hold you back and don't compromise it either you know I I think that a lot of times we have this tendency to to make things and because of all the voices and to to try to to I don't know about you but I'm I'm always the the guy that's like worst case scenario amen anybody anybody else like that like the first thing I do is like whatever the absolute worst situation that could possibly transpire that's what's going

to happen I mean it's that thing like in the middle of the night that keeps me up but the fact is is that that hardly Almost Never happens and it's like it's like God reminded me all the time ago it's like stop stop it it's not gonna happen ju you take just one step just one simple step forward do what you know is right to do in this moment stop worrying about like what's going to be uh next week or like six months or a year from now you're just one little step see because that is the Walk of Faith amen we are not supposed

to know like what's happening out there because then there'd be no need for Faith I mean it's like you know all the stuff in Prophecy everybody always wants to you know study prophecy what's going to happen in the end times and I don't know about you but you know we're a whole lot closer than we were the day I got saved amen I mean I know that for sure and I know for sure he's coming back but people get like I just want to know I want to know you know is all that stuff going on you know in the in the in the headlines

and the news papers and in the Middle East is that all predict it's like don't know doesn't matter because you just worry about what you got in front of you right now just worry about today see because that's the same thing that pilot struggled with with all the voices in his head he couldn't make the right decision because he knew what the right decision was what he should have done he was said this man is innocent now would God have accomplished his will some other way absolutely but this man played a pivotal role in that moment so how are you dealing with truth how are

you dealing with your fears and maybe it is today is the time is that I don't want to be like pilot I don't want to compromise I don't want to give into the voices I don't want to give the fear that maybe there's some things that I need to repent of that I need need to confess that I need to get right with God but maybe it is maybe it is that you need to do something about this man who is called the Christ let's pray father I pray that you help us now help us to see that even within the story of pilate that

father we see reflected back at us the things that we struggle with and father we know that even in the midst of our struggles in the midst of our weakness that you're going to work all things together for good to those who love you who are called according to his purpose but father there are some weaknesses and some things that are stumbling blocks to us today and so help us right now to do business with you help us help us to come open handed openhearted ready to to do what we know is true to do what's right and father I pray that you'll help us

to carry with us out of this place the truth that is in you the truth that we can share and invite others to come to know this man Jesus father we love you pray that you will do a work in our hearts in this moment right now in Jesus name amen