Pontius Pilate Did Not Exist (pause). Let me repeat: Pontius Pilate did not exist.
Well at least, that’s what a lot of atheists and critics of Scripture USED to say. They knew that Pilate’s name showed up about 55 times in the Bible, but they gleefully pointed out that (at that time) there was no record of Pilate’s existence anyplace else in history. And so, they mocked the Bible as NOT being truthful, and boldly declared Pilate did not exist.
(PAUSE) Well, then one day in 1961, someone found a huge stone at Caesarea with Pilate’s name on it. It’s called the “Pilate Stone” and it reads: “Tiberium, Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea.”
So, yes - PILATE DID EXIST! That was not good news for the enemies of scripture. But, once they REcovered from the shock, they moved on to attack other things mentioned in scripture that could NOT be found in archeological digs of the time.
For example (at one time) the critics claimed the Hittites didn’t exist; and that there were no lions in Nineveh; and no camels in Egypt… even though the Bible said that they existed. But then (of course) archaeologists found the Hittites… and the Lions… and Camels, and critics had to move on to try find something else they could complain about being missing from history.
You see, there are lots of people who despise the Bible and hate God, and if they can find a way to accuse Scripture of lying, they’ll do it. Because if the Bible is TRUTH, then maybe they’ll have to change. And they don’t want to do that.
Jesus said to Pilate, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” And Pilate replied “What is truth?”. John 18:37-38
Now, why would Pilate ask that question “WHAT IS TRUTH?” Well… because, if what Jesus was saying was true then Pilate had to change. And HE didn’t want to do that.
As we come to our text this morning, we find Pilate standing before Jesus. A lot of people think that Jesus was on trial here … before Pilate. But that’s not true. It was Pilate who was on trial before Christ.
Pilate had no control over this conversation, and it bothered him. And, part of the reason Pilate had no control over the conversation was because he didn’t really know WHO Jesus is! I mean, he realized Jesus is not a wild-eyed fanatic. He’d been beaten, spat on, abused in a number of ways. But there’s no anger. He didn’t yell or scream or threaten. Instead, Jesus is calm and quiet - that was not the behavior of a fanatic! And so, Pilate realized that Jesus was innocent. In John 19:4 Pilate declared “I find no fault in Him.”
But that didn’t trouble Pilate. What troubled Pilate was that he was beginning to see WHO Jesus was. Pilate was troubled because - Jesus claimed to be… the KING. In John 18:33-37 we’re told that Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world….”
The problem for Pilate was that from the moment Jesus stepped thru the door, He was in charge. Not only did Jesus claim to be a King, HE WAS the KING. Jesus spoke with the absolute moral authority of someone who was a King. And now - Pilate stood before Him. He stands before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Revelation tells us - the day’s going to come when we’ll ALL stand before the King of Kings. In Revelation 20:12 & 15 John writes: I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done… And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Pilate was experiencing just a small sampling of what will happen at the judgment, and I’m pretty sure he was not comfortable with that. I think he sensed his own lack of innocence and purity. I don’t think he wanted to stand before this King.
But now, by contrast - we will WANT to stand before Jesus at the judgment because we’ll stand as those who are forgiven by the blood of Christ. We won’t be saved because of OUR righteousness … but because of the righteousness of Christ - our King died to forgive us our sins.
When that day happens, we’ll be able to identify with the excitement of one black preacher who declared: “Pilate couldn’t find fault with Him. Herod couldn’t kill Him. Death could not handle Him. And the grave could not hold Him. THAT’S MY KING. Is He yours? (S.M. Lockridge)
We’ll gladly accept Jesus as our King because when Jesus comes back for us - it won’t be for judgment - it will be to take us home. You see, the only way to escape judgment is to belong to Christ and to make him our King; to declare that Jesus will be the Lord and master of our lives.
Romans 10:9 tells us that you if we want to be saved, we must “confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord.” Christ will either be Lord of all, or He will not our Lord at all.” (a paraphrase of a quote by James Hudson Taylor). It’s all or nothing! You can’t go half-way with Jesus.
So, as Pilate stands before Christ, Jesus declared that He was King and that He had the right to be in authority. He says to Pilate: “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (And) Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" John 18:37-38
WHAT IS TRUTH? (pause) Now, why would Pilate say that? Well, he said that because he was a man who believed in flexible morality. For him, truth was adaptable. He preferred shades of gray to the black and white of Truth.
John 3:20 tells us that “… everyone who does wicked things hates the light (hate truth) and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” And that was Pilate. Pilate wasn’t a nice man. According to one source, he was a cold, cruel, calculating politician. On one occasion the Jews rioted and Pilate subdued them by having many of them clubbed and stabbed to death. (Jerry Shirley) Pilate hated the Jews… and they hated him. And that’s what Pilate had done his whole life. He’d done wicked things, and those wicked things made him uncomfortable with truth.
The thing is. you can hate truth… but it’s still going to be there. Deep inside of everyone there’s a realization that there’s always going to be a standard of “RIGHT” and “WRONG.”
You even hear it from children on the playground: “That’s NOT right. That’s NOT fair!” because EVEN CHILDREN realize there’s a standard of TRUTH.
ILLUS: I read once about a philosophy professor began each term by asking his class, "Do you believe it can be shown that there are absolute values like justice?" And the free-thinking students all argued that everything was relative, and that there were no absolute truths in life.
Before the end of the semester, the professor devoted an entire class to debating that issue. And at the end of the class, he stated, "Regardless of what you think, I want you to know that there ARE absolute values. And if you don’t accept what I say, I’ll flunk you!" One angry student rose from his seat and shouted, "That’s not fair!" And the professor smiled: "You’ve just proved my point. You’ve appealed to a higher standard of fairness.”
And so here stood Pilate before Jesus. He doesn’t want there to be a standard of truth because if there was Pilate would stand condemned by Christ.
So, what is our standard of truth? Well, that would be Jesus. Jesus said “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life. No one comes unto the Father except by me.” (John 14:6) Jesus is the standard of truth against which all of our lives will be judged, and only His blood can spare us from condemnation.
Lastly, PILATE realized that he stood before the son of God. And he was afraid. The Jews said to Pilate, "We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God." And when Pilate heard this statement… he was even more afraid. (John 19:7-8) You can almost see the fear in Pilate’s eyes as he returns to Jesus and asks “Where are you from?” John 19:9
Pilate is afraid. And he’s afraid of Jesus. But why? But why would Pilate be afraid of Jesus? Well, because Jesus just might be the Son Of God. And suddenly Pilate is conscious of the sinful life he’s lived and – IF he’s really standing before a real god - he could be in big trouble.You see… the Roman culture that Pilate grew up in… had numerous gods. Someone once noted that the Romans (and other nations) had lots of gods—gods of war, gods of industry, gods of agriculture, gods of cities, gods of towns, and various others. But in all of their galaxy of gods, there never was one called the “god of hope” or the “god of mercy” or the god of love” (Evie Megginson). Their gods didn’t care for them. Their gods had to be appeased and bribed not to harm them. The Romans offered gifts to avoid being punished by their gods for not pleasing them. And that was the culture that Pilate grew up in.
ILLUS: I read the story of preacher who once had a dream. And in his dream he was walking down the streets of an ancient Greek city and he was noticing all the temples, and watching as the worshippers brought their sacrifices to their gods. He encountered a priest at one of the temples and commented that these worshippers must believe their gods loved them because they offered so many sacrifices. The priest just laughed and said “They don’t believe their gods love them. They bring their sacrifices because they FEAR their gods. Their gifts are bribes to implore the gods to not hurt them – to spare them from being hurt.” And then the priest looked sad as he said “Whoever loved a god?”
And I believe that Pilate had begun to suspect that Jesus was no ordinary man. And his fear at this point tells me that … Pilate had begun to realize – that this might actually be the Son of God. But he never thought that a God could love him… because he wasn’t very lovable. And so… he feared Jesus.
ILLUS: You know, when some people face danger… when their lives are threatened… when they encounter something that they fear - some folks try to change. Back in Bible College I met a young man named Hank. When he’d been in High School he was a straight-A student, but then he got on drugs and (by the time I met him in Bible College) he was lucky to make Cs and Ds. But Hank told me his story. He said he’d been on drugs so much that the time came that he couldn’t even remember his own name. AND IT SCARED HIM. He cried out to God “If you’ll just help me got off these drugs, I’ll give my life completely to you.” He said the next morning he woke up and he realized he no longer had any desire for drugs… and he became a preacher for Christ.
HANK GOT SCARED… AND HE CHANGED.
But when Pilate faced Jesus it DID scare him … but he didn’t change. Even when he came face to face with the Son of God… Pilate didn’t change. It appears he feared the judgment of the crowd to the judgement of God. So Pilate washed his hands of the matter, and turned Jesus over to the crowd to be crucified.
About 3 years later (in 36 A.D.) Pilate was ordered back to Rome to stand trial for cruelty intriguingly on the charge that he had had men executed without a proper trial. And, ultimately, Emperor Caligula ordered Pilate to take his own life.
CLOSE: In Matthew 27:22 Pilate asks the crowds an interesting question: "What shall I do... with Jesus who is called Christ?" His conscience told Him to release Jesus; His wife told him to have nothing to do with Him; The crowds demanded that he have Jesus executed. So, what was he to do with Jesus?
Do you realize your future is also determined by how you answer that question?
What Will You Do With Jesus? There’s an old hymn that says it this way:
“Jesus is standing in Pilate’s hall; Friendless, forsaken, betrayed by all. Hearken what means the sudden call! What will you do with Jesus? What will you do with Jesus? Neutral you cannot be;
Someday your heart will be asking, ‘What will He do with me?’”
INVITATION
