Love On The Cross Series

Romans 1:21-22, “For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools…”. And verse 28, “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, Gad gave them up to a debased mind, to do what ought not to be done.”

Jesus came to bear witness to the truth – Pilate can’t even acknowledge that there is object truth. His mind is darkened by sin. And when we have unchecked sin, it leads to more sin. It goes from thought, to action, to behavior, to lifestyle.

It goes from questioning, “Did God really say?” To let’s engage in outright rebellion against Him and His commands, and His ordinances, and His design and will.

Relativism usually leads to hedonistic pragmatism. If there is no moral, objective standard, then life becomes about what I want, and what I can get, and about me, me, me!

And so, when the Jewish leaders say, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend, everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” His self preserving, hedonistic, relativistic mind, darkened by sin, takes over, and he compromises. He sentences an innocent man to death… but hey, at least it’s out his hair now – right? Whatever! Just don’t bother me with it. I wash my hands of it.

Pilate did what he did to protect his political career and his cushy, comfortable life.

So, first… Pilate said, “I find no guilt in Him.” And they brought the charges against him that he was misleading the nation, commanding people to not pay taxes, and making himself out to be a king.

So, Pilate took Jesus and flogged Him. It was a terrible thing. I won’t go into detail, but basically it’s the worst kind of beating imaginable. The Roman soldiers shoved a crown of thorns down onto Jesus’ head, and threw a purple robe on Him, and Pilate brought Jesus out and showed Him to the mob. He said, “Behold the Man.” Not “Behold the King”, but “Behold the Man.” This was the second attempt to get them to release Jesus… Basically Pilate was showing them, that this guy isn’t some insurrectionist, look at how pitiful He looks. He’s learned His lesson. Let’s let Him go, but when they saw Jesus they cried all the more loudly “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” And again Pilate said to them, “Do it yourself – I find no guilt in Him.” Pilate was practically begging them, saying, “He’s not guilty of any crime. He’s not a threat to Roman rule or to the emperor.”

And look at what the mob said… verse 7, “We have a law, and according to that law He ought to die because He has made Himself the Son of God.”

Now remember, Jesus has told Pilate that His kingdom is not of the world… Pilate’s wife had a supernatural dream… and now the crowd is telling him that Jesus is claiming to be the Son of God.

Pilate is afraid. That’s what our text says. Verse 8, He was even “MORE AFRAID.”

Fear can be a powerful motivator – but it’s not the most powerful.

Before I became a Christian, I had some vague idea that if I died, I would go to hell, and that was frightening to me… but not frightening enough. I still engaged in sin, and practiced sin, and lived in sin. I loved my sin, more than I feared hell.