John 18:28–19:16
Revival is not an event on the calendar. It’s not a series of meetings. It is a moment when God confronts us with truth and asks us to respond.
Revival begins when we stop running from the truth and start standing in it by submitting to God.
There is no clearer picture of that confrontation than Jesus standing before Pilate in submission to GOD. Revival is when God puts us in Pilate’s shoes: We know what is right. We feel the pull of the crowd. We hear the whisper of fear. And we must decide whom we will obey.
And in John 18–19, Pilate becomes a mirror. He shows us what happens when hesitation, confusion, pressure, and fear override obedience to Christ.
However, Jesus stands in contrast to Pilate at every turn. Where Pilate hesitates and is conflicted, Jesus is righteous! Where Pilate is confused, Jesus is crystal clear with Truth. Where Pilate is pressured, Jesus is steadfast, despite rejection and even being replaced by Barabbas. Where Pilate cowers in fear of the power of Rome and Religion, Jesus is resolute in His response.
I. Pilate’s Conflict and the Leaders’ Hypocrisy
28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. 29 Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” 30 They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.” 31 Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.” Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” 32 that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die.
John
18:28–32
John’s gospel shows the hypocrisy of the Jewish
leaders, who would not go into the Praetorium so that they would not defile
themselves for Passover. They avoided stepping on Gentile floors while plotting
the murder of the Son of God.
Trying to appease the Jews, Pilate will go in and
out of the Praetorium seven times! To be honest with you I lost
count! The Jewish Leaders, on the other hand, go nowhere. They stand
firm in their hypocrisy.
#1: Revival begins when God exposes our hypocrisy
we hide behind and we throw away our hesitancy. We must _WHOLE-HEARTEDLY_ submit to King Jesus.
II. Three Declaration: “I Find No Fault in Him” In
the first declaration Pilate is Confused about the Truth. Let’s read of Pilate’s
Confusion about the Truth
33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” 37 Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” 38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.
John 18:33–38
Pilate was
confused about the TRUTH. Jesus brought truth before the people. Jesus was the
Truth in His life and in His witness. Pilate asks: “Are You the King of the
Jews?” Jesus answers: “For this cause I was born… to bear witness to the
truth.” Pilate responds with the question of every skeptic: “What is
truth?”
This is one of Jesus’s mission statements, the
reason why He came was to be a witness to the truth of God’s Love, God’s
Judgment, God’s Redemption.
In the same way, Revival begins when we stop making
truth conform to us but rather being a witness of Jesus as the Truth to these
three: LOVE, Judgment, Redemption. While
Pilate was CONFUSED about the Truth, Jesus was CONFIDENT in His Reign and the
Reality of the TRUTH.
GracePointe #2:. Revival is when we stop trying to make
truth conform to us, but instead we become a witness of Jesus as the Truth.
2. Pilate’s Compromise Under Pressure
39 “But you have a custom that I
should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to
release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 Then they all cried
again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
19:1 So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. 2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. 3 Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him with their hands. 4 Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.”
John 18:39–19:4
Pilate’s reluctance to crucify Jesus is stronger in
John than in any of the gospels. When Pilate said, “Behold the Man!” The crowd screamed: “Crucify
Him!” Pilate was torn between His conscience
and crowd. Meanwhile Christ accepts His Rejection by the crowd and even His Replacement
with Barabbas, a known criminal and robber!
GracePointe #3:. Revival is when we stop letting the
crowd decide our convictions.
3. Pilate’s Cowardice Before Power
5 Then
Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.
And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!” 6 Therefore,
when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying,
“Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “You take Him
and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.” 7 The
Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to
die, because He made Himself the Son of God.”
8 Therefore, when Pilate heard
that saying, he was the more afraid, 9 and went again into
the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no
answer. 10 Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to
me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release
You?”
11 Jesus answered, “You
could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.
Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” 12 From
then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you
let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king
speaks against Caesar.”
13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” 16 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away.
John 19:5–16
“Pilate knew the Jews had delivered Jesus up out of
envy.” Pilate tries to release Jesus. The leaders threaten him politically.
Pilate caves.
“Jesus had already submitted His will to the Father
in Gethsemane.” Jesus says: “You could have no power unless it had been given
from above.”
Pilate was a coward before the Jewish leaders;
before Rome. He was afraid. Meanwhile Christ’s Response was absolute Resolve. Jesus
stood calm, resolute, submitted.
GracePointe #4:. Revival is when we submit to the
Father the way Jesus did. Revival begins when we stop letting fear override OBEDIENCE.
