Would you turn back to 1 Timothy
chapter 6. Verse 13 once again where Paul
says, I give thee charge in the sight of God who quickens all
things and before Christ Jesus who before Pontius Pilate witnessed
a good confession of God, the Holy Spirit. Inspires Paul to
speak of the confession of Christ that he made before Pontius Pilate,
and that lets us know there must be something very important about
the confession of Christ before Pontius Pilate. Now, who was
Pontius Pilate? Well, his name will forever be
associated with infamy. Pontius Pilate. He was the governor
of Judea, and he was appointed that post by Tiberius Caesar. He's spoken of in extra biblical
literature as well. Josephus, the Jewish historian,
speaks of him and tells about all the different things that
he did. Now, he was a savvy politician.
And his main object was to keep his constituents happy. Kind
of the same way it is today, isn't it? Mark's account tells
us he knew that the Jews had delivered Jesus for envy. And
he already had had a long history with the Jews, and he'd done
several things. And like I said, I know this stuff from outside
of the Bible, where it's recorded different things that he did
in history to really anger the Jews and alienate them. There
would be insurrections, resurrections up against him, and he'd have
to back off what he was doing. So he had a political experience
with the Jews where he really disliked them, but he had to
keep them happy. That was his goal, was to keep
them happy. And as you read in this account
between where he was looking at the Lord Jesus Christ during
his trial, you see that's what he was in fact doing, but he
had a dislike for the Jews. Now, when the Lord was brought
before him, He was greatly torn. Would you turn with me to Matthew
27? He believed the Lord Jesus Christ
to be innocent. And he was very torn over what
was taking place. His wife actually had had a dream
and sent him words saying, have nothing to do with this just
man. for I have suffered many things
in a dream because of him. Now look in verse 20 of Matthew
chapter 27, but the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude
that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor,
Pilate, answered and said unto them, Whither of the twain wilt
ye that I should release unto you? And they said, Barabbas.
Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do with Jesus, which
is called Christ? They all said unto him, Let him
be crucified. And the governor said, Why? What
evil hath he done? But they cried out the more,
saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult, a riot, was getting
ready to take place, He took water, and he washed his hand
before the multitude, saying, I'm innocent of the blood of
this just person. You see ye to it. Look in Luke's
account in Luke 23. Beginning in verse 13. And Pilate,
when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers
and the people, said unto them, You brought this man into me
as one that perverts the people. And behold, I've examined him
before you and have found no fault in this man touching those
things wherever you accuse him. No, nor yet Herod, for I sent
you to him. And lo, nothing worthy of death
is done unto him. I will therefore chastise him
and release him, for of necessity he must release one unto them
at the feast. And they cried out all at once, saying, Away
with this man, and release unto us Barabbas, who for a certain
sedition made in the city, and for murder was cast into prison.
Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, that's what he
wanted to do. He believed him to be innocent. He spoke again
to them, but they cried saying, crucify him, crucify him. And
he said to them the third time, why? What evil hath he done?
I found no cause of death in him. I will therefore chastise
him and let him go. And they were instant with loud
voices requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices
of them and of the chief priest prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence
that it should be as they required. He went against his conscience
and he released unto them, unto him that for sedition and murder
was cast into prison whom they desired, but he delivered Jesus
to their will. I think that's such a powerful
statement. He delivered Jesus to their will. Turn to Mark's account in Mark
chapter 15. Mark chapter 15, beginning in
verse eight. And the multitude, crying aloud,
began to desire him to do as he done unto them. But Pilate
answered them, saying, Will you that I release unto you the king
of the Jews? For he knew that the chief priests had delivered
him for envy, but the chief priests moved the people that he should
rather release Barabbas unto them. And Pilate answered and
said unto them, What will you that I should do unto him whom
you call the king of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify!
And Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they
cried out, The more exceedingly crucify him. And so Pilate, willing
to content the people. That pretty much summarizes your
typical, what he was. He was willing to content the
people. It was against, it was wrong,
but he was willing to content the people, release Brabus unto
them and deliver Jesus whom he had, whom when he had scourged
him, to be crucified. So we see that everything about
him was political, wasn't it? He was trying to keep his constituents
happy. Now look over in John chapter
19. And the Holy Spirit inspired
Paul to say that the Lord witnessed a good confession before Pontius
Pilate. Verse six. When the chief priest,
therefore, and officer saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify
him! Crucify him! Pilate saith unto them, Take
ye him, and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. The Jews
answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die,
because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate, therefore,
heard that saying, he was the more afraid. He was afraid of
this one, already amazed by his conduct. You see, the Lord stayed
silent before him. Are you the king of the Jews?
He remained silent. Why are you here? He remained
silent. And there was something about
the Lord that frightened him, that he was impressed with. And
look in verse 12. And from thenceforth, John chapter
19, from thenceforth, Pilate sought to release him. That was
his desire. He wanted to set him free. He
was scared of him. But the Jews cried out, saying,
If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever
maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. So Pilate saw
this would be political disaster for him, didn't he? He couldn't. It would ruin his career if he
let this go on. Verse 13, when Pilate therefore
heard that saying, he brought forth Jesus forth and sat down
in the judgment seat in a place that's called the pavement, but
in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of
the Passover, about the six hour. And he saith unto the Jews, behold,
your king. But they cried out, away with
him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said unto him, shall I
crucify your king? The chief priest answered, we have no king
but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore
unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him
away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called
the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha,
where they crucified him and two other with him on either
side, one and Jesus in the midst. And here's Pilate's parting shot. And Pilate wrote a title. He's
the one who wrote this. Pilate wrote a title and put
it on the cross. And the writing was. Jesus of
Nazareth, the king of the Jews. That was the accusation against
him, the king of the Jews. And the title then read many
of the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was night
of the city. And it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. I love the way he read it in
all three different languages, the language of religion, Hebrew,
Greek, the intellectuals, I mean, Latin, the intellectuals, Greek,
the common language, all three languages. Then said the chief
priests of the Jews to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews,
but that he said, I'm the king of the Jews. Pilate answered,
what I've written, I've written. Now, what was Christ's confession
before Pilate that God the Holy Spirit says he witnessed a good
confession. Now that word witness is where
we get the word martyr from. He witnessed by his own blood
a good confession. And you know what I want to hear?
I want to hear witness. Don't you? I don't want to hear
somebody giving second-hand information that somebody else told them.
I want to hear somebody who's seen something, who knows something.
Christ Jesus is the true and faithful witness. If you want
to know the truth, he is the true and faithful witness. And he witnessed this good confession
before Pilate. Now in Matthew, Mark, and Luke's
account, when Pilate asked him if he was the king of the Jews,
His reply was, Thou say'st. Thou say'st. You said it. All three accounts point out
how amazed Pilate was by the silence of the Lord before his
accusers. They made all these accusations and he answered not. a word. He made no attempt to
defend himself. In answer to Isaiah 53 7, he
was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before
shears is done. So he opened not his mouth. Now,
why didn't he defend himself? You know, if I'm accused of something
falsely, I defend myself. I'm not going to be accused of
falsehood. You know, these people that take
these plea bargains, they say, well, I didn't do it. But they
go ahead and take some kind of plea bargain in order to stay
out of jail, even though they say that. I feel like I'd go
to jail before I would admit to doing something that I did
not do. Our Lord could have defended
himself at this time, but he didn't. Why? because the scripture says he
was numbered with the transgressors. He didn't defend himself because
he was guilty. He was numbered with the transgressors. At this time, he had more guilt
than anybody else. All the sins of all of God's
elect had become his and he was guilty. So he opened not his
mouth. Now, by far, the most detail
is found in John's account of his confession before Pilate.
And let's go to John chapter 18, where it begins. Verse 28. Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas,
the high priest, unto the hall of judgment. And it was early.
And they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest
they should be defiled. You know, they're getting ready.
I think that's kind of ironic. They're getting ready to murder
the son of God, but they don't want to be defiled. They don't want
to be ceremonially defiled. So they wanted to be able to
eat the Passover, and they didn't realize that this is the true
Passover taking place right now. Pilate then went out unto them,
verse 29, and said, what accusation bring ye against this man? They
answered and said unto him, if he were not a malfactor, a criminal,
we would not have delivered him unto thee. Then said Pilate unto
them, take ye him and judge him according to your law. The Jews
therefore said unto him, it's not lawful for us to put any
man to death. that the saying of Jesus might
be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying by what death he should
die. He's going to die on the cross. That's the Roman form
of execution for the vilest of criminals. And remember when
the scripture says, cursed be everyone that hangeth on a tree.
That's an answer to that prophecy. He is going to hang on a tree.
And the reason the Jews were not allowed to stone him or do
whatever it is that the Jews do is because he was going to
die this death of a Roman crucifixion. Verse 33. Then Pilate entered
into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto
him, Art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou
this thing of thyself? Or did others tell it thee of
me? It's quite a question, isn't
it? You know, I would like to say
that with regard to everything we really believe. Do you say
this of yourself? Do you really believe it, or
is it just what somebody told you? Verse 35, Pilate answered, Am
I Jew? Thine own nation and the chief
priests have delivered thee unto me. What has thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is
not of this world. Now, obviously, the Lord is the
King. Are you the King of the Jews? Now, why did they crucify the
Lord? What was the accusation against Him? Did they crucify
Him for work and miracles? For healing the sick? For being
a prophet and teaching the Word of God? No, what was the accusation
over His head? This is the accusation that was
written over his head, the king of the Jews. Now, this was, is
and always will be the issue, the kingship of Jesus Christ. He is the king. He is the king
of kings and he is the Lord of lords. You remember there in
John chapter six when they tried to take him by force and make
him a king and he refused. You see, he's not a king because
men made him king. He's not king because he was
voted into office. You see, if he was voted into
office, he could be voted out of office, couldn't he? He's
King by virtue of who He is. He's God's King. He's the Lord's
Christ. Behold, I've set my King, God
said, on my holy hill of Zion. He's King by decree. He's King
by right. He's the King of Kings. No man
made Him King. That's why He wouldn't accept
them taking Him by force and making Him King. He is King. Now, what that means is The verb
form of the word king is he reigns. He reigns. Christ Jesus was born
king of the Jews. Are you a king then? To this
end was I born. Christ Jesus reigns. Now this
is the lesson Nebuchadnezzar learned. He said that it was
the most high that ruleth over the kingdom of men. And I love
thinking about that, don't you? Everybody, politicians, people
we don't know, people over in other countries, every stuff
going on all over the place, He rules. He reigns. His will
is done. You are in His hands. Every man is in His hands. He reigns. I love that, don't
you? I love that. He reigns because
he's king of kings and Lord of lords. There's nothing that happens
that happens without him. He is Lord. Now, the scripture says in Psalm
97 1, the Lord reigneth. Let the earth rejoice. Does that
make you happy that the Lord reigns? You know, if he's not
reigning, somebody else is reigning. But he reigns. The Lord reigneth,
let the earth rejoice. Psalm 99.1 says the Lord reigneth,
let the people tremble. You know, you'll only worship
in fear an absolute sovereign and you're in his hand and he
can do with you whatever he's pleased to do. That's the only
one you'll worship. You won't worship anyone that
you can manipulate. that you can control, that you
can change, you won't worship them. You'll try to change them.
You'll only worship Him who has absolute sovereign control. You're
in His hands right now. I'm in His hands right now. If
you take a breath in the next five seconds, it's because of
His will. And if He wills it, you'll stop breathing. He is
Lord. He reigns. Listen to this scripture. Psalm 96 verse 10 says, Say ye
among the heathen, the Lord reigneth. You know, this is what the unbeliever
needs to hear. The unbeliever needs to hear of the absolute
reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's good for him to hear.
They find out who he is. This is who he is. Say he among
the heathen, the Lord reigneth. And then this is what the church
needs to hear. We read in Psalm or Isaiah 52,
how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. That's what the church loves,
isn't it? Verse 36, Jesus answered, My
kingdom is not of this world. Yes, I'm a king, but my kingdom
is not of this world. You can't possibly understand
it. A man, you know, man's either a man of the world or he's of
God. I love that passage of scripture
in John chapter eight, where the Lord says, if I tell you
the truth, why don't you believe me? That's a good question, isn't
it? He that's of God, heareth God's
words. You therefore, you're the not
because you're not of God. Now he says to Pilate, you can't
understand this because my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom
were of this world, my servants would fight that I would not
be delivered. You, you couldn't stand before me. You're nothing
but you're a pawn in my hand, but my kingdom is not of this
world. And the reason that I'm dying
and letting this happen is because my death is the key to this kingdom. Now look, let's go on reading
what he says. Verse 37, Pilate therefore said
unto him, Are thou a king then? You're talking about a kingdom.
Are you a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I'm king. To
this end was I born. To be king of kings and Lord
of lords. His kingship speaks of his sovereignty. He is the king. To this end was
I born. And for this cause came I into
the world. Aren't you glad that the Lord
came into the world? You know, there was a time when he was
not a man, was not flesh, but there was a time when he came
into the world. I'm so thankful for that. God
the Son became flesh. God manifest in the flesh. came
into the world. He took upon him flesh. He became
a man. He came into the world for this
purpose. Let's go on reading verse 37 to this. In was I born
to be king, and for this cause came I into the world, that I
should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth
heareth my voice. The Lord Jesus came into the
world for this purpose, to bear witness. And indeed, like I said,
this is where we get the word martyr from. He did bear witness
with his own blood. He bore witness concerning the
truth. Now, if you want to know the
truth, if there's one word I could use, just one word to describe
the truth, you know what that word would be? The cross. the cross. He came to bear witness
by his own blood of the truth of the true character of man.
by the cross. Now I'm looking at some people
that are fine people. I mean, I'm looking at some people that
you're in the top 1% probably as far as men and women of integrity. I admire you. I'm looking at
some some top notch people and I respect that. I'm thankful
for that. I hope I'm a man of integrity. All that being said. What's cross say about being
here? The cross says the one time God
leaves men alone. and leaves them to their own
will. And the same thing is true of me and the same thing is true
of you. If God would leave you to yourself and leave you alone,
you and I would be one of these ones murdering the Son of God
because we hated Him and we said, we will not have this man to
reign over us. Now that's the truth regarding
you. You wanna know what kind of sinner you are? Don't look
at the things you've done. Well, look at them. I mean, they're
bad, but that doesn't really give the real picture. The real
picture is the cross, and the cross tells us the truth about
the true character of God. You won't know God apart from
the cross of Jesus Christ. And the cross of Jesus Christ
tells us who God is. All of his attributes are displayed
in the cross. I love thinking about this. I
can talk about this every time I preach. Thinking about what
the cross tells us of the character of God. It tells us of His holiness,
His hatred of sin. It tells us of His power, His
power to put away sin. It tells us of His justice, He
must punish sin. It tells us of His wisdom, He's
made a way. He's made a way to remain just
and yet justify somebody who's unjust. Isn't that glorious?
The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ tells us who God really is. The cross of Christ tells us
the truth regarding salvation. Here's the truth regarding salvation.
When he said, it is finished, the salvation of all God's people
finished. Isn't that wonderful? That's
the truth. He said, I came to bear witness to the truth. Everyone that's of the truth
heareth my voice. Pilate, verse 38, saith unto
him, what's truth? What is truth? We dealt with this in the Sunday
school lesson this morning, or Vacation Bible School lesson
this morning, this question, what is truth? What does Pilate
mean by that? Well, on the surface, it seems
like he's saying, is there such a thing as truth? Or Maybe there is truth, but
how can we know it? Wouldn't it be almost presumptuous
to say that we know the truth? Is there such a thing as truth?
And if there is, how can any man say, I know the truth? That
seems almost presumptuous. Or did he mean this? And here's
what I believe he really meant. Truth. Truth. Is it worth this? Is it worth
you dying for? Look at the way these people
want to put you to death. Look how bad they hate you. Is
the truth worth all of this? Let me ask myself this question
and let me ask you this question. Is the truth worth you dying
for? Is it worth your blood? Well,
I know this, if the truth is worth dying for, the truth is
certainly worth living for, isn't it? What is truth? And when he had
said this, he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto
them, I find in him no fault at all. But you have a custom. that I should release unto you
one at the Passover, will you therefore that I release unto
you the king of the Jews? Then cried they all again saying,
not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Then, verse one, Pilate there,
chapter 19, verse one, Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged
him. And the soldiers plaited a crown
of thorns and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple
robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him
with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth and said unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to
you that you may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus
forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate
said unto them, Behold, the man. When the chief priest, therefore,
and officer saw him, they cried saying, Crucify him, crucify
him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him and crucify him,
for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have
a law. And by our law, he ought to die because he made himself
the son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he was the more afraid. You want to talk about a man
that was conflicted at this time. He, he believed the Lord Jesus
Christ to be innocent. He had his wife say, you don't
have anything to do with this just man. I've suffered many
things in a dream because of him. And then he hears, he claims
to be the son of God. And he looks at him and he, he's
conflicted to say the least. So verse nine. And he went again
into the judgment hall and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
He didn't answer him, he didn't try to defend himself. Then Pilate
said unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not
that I have power to crucify thee? And I have power to release
thee. You're in my hands. What's going
to happen to you is up to me. And I love what the Lord said.
Verse 11, Jesus answered, Thou couldst have no power at all
over me, except it be given thee from above. Do you know that
the Lord has a monopoly on power? Isn't that wonderful to think
about? I've said this a couple of times.
I remember a few weeks ago listening to a radio program and they were
talking about they were going to give the names of the five
most powerful men alive. And I thought, Lord said, all power is given
to me. How much power does any man have?
None. How much power does he have?
All power. All power is given unto me. He said, You could have no power
at all over me, except it be given thee from above. Therefore,
he that had delivered thee unto me hath the greater sin. And
from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews
cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's
friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king
speaketh against Caesar. And from thence When Pilate,
therefore, heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and set
him down in the judgment seat in the place that's called the
pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbath. And it was the preparation
of the Passover, about the six hour, and he said unto the Jews,
Behold, your king. But they cried out. Away with
him! Away with him! Crucify him! Pilate
said unto him, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests
answered and said, We have no king but Caesar. Now this is
the Lord's confession before Pilate. And God the Holy Spirit
inspired Paul to say that he witnessed a good confession before
Pilate. Now what was his confession? Two things. Number one is silence. You know, there's something very
powerful about silence. I noticed when Joe was preaching
Sunday night, at one point the Lord was speaking and there was
silence. I love it when there's silence. You know, when the Lord's speaking,
you know what people do? They shut up. They shut up. I want to hear what's being said.
And the Lord was silent before Pontius Pilate. Pilate couldn't understand it.
Why didn't he answer me? Well, Pilate didn't need to understand
it. But I know why the Lord was silent.
Because the scripture said he would be. because he was numbered
with the transgressors, because he was guilty. What a confession before Pilate
that he opened not his mouth. Now what's the second thing that
he made very clear to Pilate? The issue of all issues is kingship. He's the king. That means he
reigns. And Pilate said, are you king?
He said, to this end was I born, to be king of kings and Lord
of lords. Now, when we talk about his kingship,
he's your king, whether you like it or not. He's
your king. You're in his hands. That's just
the way it is. I love where they said, we'll not have this man
reign over us. And my thought is you've got
no choice. He does reign over you. And there's
not a thing you can do about it. That's just the truth. He
is the king. He's your king, whether you like
it or not. Let me tell you this. He's king
in a special way. to those who love His reign,
who are willingly under His kingship. You see, I need Him to be king.
I need Him in all of His offices. I love the Christ, the prophet,
priest, and king. I need Him to be my prophet.
I need Him to bring me the Word of God. I need Him to be the
Word of God. I need Him to teach me the Word
of God. I need the Word of God. Thou
hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name. He is the Word
of God. And I need a word from God. I need to hear from God. I need
to hear the gospel. I need Him as my prophet. I need
Him as my priest. I need Him to bring me to God.
I can't come on my own. If I tried to come, He'd have
to send me to hell. I need Him to bring me. I need
Him to offer His own blood for me. I need Him to pray for me.
I need Him to stand in the presence of God for me. I need Him as
my priest. and how I need him as my king. I need him by an act of his sovereign
power to cause me, to cause me to do his will, to cause me to
bow the knee before him, to cause me to worship him, to cause me
to believe, to cause me to repent, to cause me to love. That's what
the king does. I need him as my king. I need
him to cause me. What was his good confession
before Pilate? First his silence, and then his
kingship. You know, we sing that hymn,
we love to sing, of Christ our King, and hail him, blessed Jesus,
for there's no word here ever heard so dear, so sweet, as Jesus. I love that hymn also. King of
my life, I crown thee now. Now, I don't crown him. I don't
crown him. The Father crowned him. But I
like watching it. So I like watching it. King of my life, in my heart,
I crown thee now. Thine shall the glory be. As
a matter of fact, I wanted to sing that hymn. What a King. May we confess that
confession before men. Let's pray.