Pilate’s Unique Opportunity
I want to speak to you about this man Pilate. Not that I think there’s a person here like Pilate — there isn’t. Pilate had a unique opportunity that only one man in this world ever had. But Pilate acted a lot like all of us act.
Do you ever wrestle with something? I don’t mean wrestle physically — some of you may have done that too — I mean wrestle mentally. Do you ever toss something back and forth in your mind: what should I do? You look at it this way, then that way. You spin it around, flip it over, look at it from every angle, and you just don’t know what to do. That’s Pilate.
But he wasn’t just wrestling with something. He was wrestling with the truth. He had come face to face with the truth — not only in words, but in a person — and he didn’t know what to do with it.
Pilate Wrestled With the Truth
Early in the Morning, Face to Face With Christ
First thing in the morning — we read it was early — the Lord Jesus had been up all night. He had been in Caiaphas’s hall, and they had mocked Him. They had spit on Him. They had crowned Him with thorns. And He is brought before Pilate early in the morning, while they are clamouring for His death.
Pilate says, “Why? What has He done?” He goes in and talks with Him, comes out, and says, “I find no fault in this man.” Read the whole account and you’ll see he goes in and out at least three or four times, and each time he comes out he says it again: “I find no fault in Him. I find no fault in Him at all. Take Him yourselves and crucify Him — I’ll chastise Him and let Him go. But you take Him. You do something with Him.” You get the idea Pilate didn’t want to touch this case.
So finally he goes in and starts to talk with the Lord Jesus. He says, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And Jesus answers him with a question: “Are you asking this because you want to know, or because somebody else said it?”
That’s a good question. So let me stop right here. If there’s someone here tonight who isn’t saved — what are you doing here? Are you here because somebody else brought you? Or are you here because you want to know for yourself? We’re glad if somebody brought you, and we’re glad you’ve come. But there’s a difference.
From Going to Gospel Meetings to Wanting Salvation
I went to gospel meetings all my life — which wasn’t very long, since my life was only sixteen years so far at that point. My mother brought me to gospel meetings when I was a baby in her arms.
But when I was sixteen, I said to my dad one night, “I’m not going.” He didn’t say a word. He just looked up. He said, “What was that?” And I said, “Oh, nothing. Nothing.” I kept going to gospel meetings — but only because I had to.
That fall, two preachers came preaching the gospel, and I started going because God was dealing with me. I went to the funeral of a classmate — grade ten. The boy in the very next desk had been shot.
I came into class late that morning. My class was usually rowdy and bubbly until the bell rang, but that morning everybody was just sitting there. I said the stupidest thing: “What’s wrong with you guys? You look like you lost your best friend.” The teacher looked up at me and said, “John, sit down.” I sat down. Then I looked at the empty desk and said, “Where’s Ron?” They told me he had been killed that morning.
They took our whole class to the viewing on a school bus. I remember walking in and seeing the casket laid out at the front. As we all lined up to pay our last respects to Ron Connelly, when my turn came, I stood there frozen. One of my classmates — I don’t even remember who — tapped me on the shoulder and said, “John, see that stool? You’re supposed to kneel on it and pray for Ron’s soul.”
You know what I was thinking? If that had been me, all my classmates would have been lined up to pray for my soul — and I would have been in hell.
Two weeks later, gospel meetings started again. This time I didn’t say “I’m not going.” The difference was that now I wanted to hear how I could be saved. I remember sitting in those meetings night after night thinking, “I missed it again. I missed it again.” The meeting would end and I was still not saved. I was trying to figure it out. I wanted to be saved. I wanted to know the truth. I wanted to know Christ.
See the difference? Pilate didn’t want to know for himself. That’s why the Lord Jesus asked him, “Are you saying this of yourself, or did somebody else tell you to say it? Would you like to be saved — or is it because somebody else said it?”
That’s the question now. Because first thing that morning, Pilate faced the truth. He faced Christ. And the first thing I want to say to you tonight is: you’ve got to face the truth. The truth about yourself — be honest. The truth about your own sin. And the truth about Christ, that He alone can save you from your sins.
“What Shall I Do Then With Jesus?”
But Pilate wasn’t willing to face it. He tried to get out of it. He went back and forth: “You take Him.” “No, you take Him.” “No,” he said, “you judge Him.” “No, you judge Him.” “You have your own laws — judge Him by your laws.” “No, you judge Him by your laws.” You see what’s going on? He just doesn’t want to be a man and face it.
Are you doing that? Wrestling with it — maybe now, maybe later. “I’m too young.” “I’m too old.” “I’m too busy.” “I’m not busy enough.” Can I encourage you? Just calm down. Face Christ tonight. Face your own sinful condition tonight. Be honest with yourself, and be honest before God.
Pilate wrestled with the truth. But whenever you come face to face with the truth, you have to make a choice. Pilate knew that, and so do you. As he faced the Lord Jesus, nobody had prepared this question for him ahead of time. Nobody wrote it down for him. He came up with it himself: “What shall I do then with Jesus?” And you’ve come up with the same question, haven’t you?
He knew he had to do something. You can’t be neutral. You either accept Him or reject Him — Pilate knew that, and so do you. You either accept the Saviour of sinners as your own Saviour and know your sins forgiven, or you reject Him and you have no Saviour.
So whenever you face the truth, you have to make a choice. Make the right choice. Can I tell you this? If you face the truth and accept the truth, Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” You can be free tonight from all your sins. Stop wrestling with it, and trust the Saviour. Accept the truth.
Pilate Washed His Hands
I’m not going to spend as much time on this next one, but it matters. Pilate washed his hands. What was that about? Not only did he wrestle — he stood before the crowd and called for a bowl of water. If I asked someone here right now to bring me a bowl of water, and I dipped my hands in it and started washing them in front of you, you’d think it was strange. You’d say, “What’s that about?”
He said, “I am innocent” — because he washed his hands. You’ve heard the expression: when you don’t want to get involved in something, you “wash your hands of it.” That’s what he was doing. He thought he could wash his hands clean of Christ. “I don’t have to make a choice. I’m not guilty. I’m not responsible for what’s happening.” That’s what he was saying. It was a metaphor for innocence. But he wasn’t innocent — and neither are you.
It was more than that, though. It’s interesting that he did this in front of all the Jews, because it was part of the Jewish law. If a murder had taken place outside one of their towns and nobody knew who did it, the elders of the nearest town were to come out, kill a heifer, shed its blood, and wash their hands over the dead animal, saying before the Lord, “We know nothing about this death. Our hands are clean of the blood of this murdered man. We had nothing to do with it.”
So when Pilate did this in front of the people, it brought something out. They couldn’t say, “We have nothing to do with this.” Do you hear what they said instead? “His blood be on us and on our children.” It brought a confession of their own guilt — because they were guilty. They had rejected Christ.
Am I talking to anybody here tonight? Up to this point, you’ve done the same thing — you’ve rejected Christ. You pride yourself that you haven’t murdered anybody, you haven’t broken into a bank, you haven’t stolen anything, and you’re a pretty good citizen. But you’ve rejected Christ. You’ve turned the Saviour down. That’s what they did, and they were guilty. So while a man washes his hands, at the same time he makes the choice to reject Christ.
Are you rejecting Christ tonight? Don’t reject Him one more night. We’ve been pleading with you for a week now. Trust the Saviour. Accept Him. He’s the One who died for you.
Pilate Marvelled at His Death
The man who washed his hands — but lastly, the man who wondered at His death. And so he might. He had never seen a death like this Man’s death. No one has ever died like Christ died.
Christ’s Forgiveness at the Cross
He wasn’t murdered. “No man taketh my life from me. I lay it down of myself. And if I have power to lay it down, I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received from my Father.”
So the first thing Pilate wondered was: how did He die? Do you know how Christ died? You might say He died on a cross — no, I’m not asking where He died. I’m asking how He died. Let me tell you: He died with nothing against you. His last words were, “Father, forgive them.” He held nothing against you. He died that you might be forgiven. That’s how He died — clear of all men, holding nothing against anyone, even the men who were nailing Him to the cross.
Now, forgiveness is two-sided, you know that. There’s the forgiver — that’s Christ. And there’s the person who is forgiven. Have you ever accepted His forgiveness? That’s the question for you tonight. That’s how He died — He died that you might be forgiven.
Why He Died — “It Is Finished”
Why did He die? Pilate marvelled at that too. He should have still been alive for hours and hours yet — it was only six hours. Men hung on crosses for days and didn’t die. Why was He dead already?
Do you know why He died? Because He finished the work. He put away sin. And when sin was paid for, there was no reason for Him to remain on the cross any longer. When the work was done, He bowed His head and died. He said, “It is finished,” and He died. That’s why He died, and that’s why He died at that hour — because at that hour, everything was done. Nothing remained to do. There’s nothing for you to do. Why do you remain in your sins when Christ died for our sins?
When He Died — At Just the Right Time
Pilate marvelled that He died. The Bible says He died at just the right time. That’s the verse God used the night I got saved: “When we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.” That’s why Christ died.
No wonder Pilate marvelled at His death. It’s a marvellous death. There has never been a death like it, and there never will be another one like it. It was the one death that puts away sin forever. It’s the death of one Man that can save the entire world. It’s the death of God’s own Son — He gave His only Son to die on the cross for you. It’s an awful thing, when you think about it.
Was It for Me?
Pilate marvelled at His death, but there’s nothing to tell us that Pilate ever accepted that Christ’s death was for him. You might marvel at the death of Christ too. But I want you to check, as this meeting continues: was it for me? Have I ever understood that it was for me?
Jesus died for me. Marvel at it. Wonder at it. But, my friend, accept it. Accept the truth of it. By accepting the truth that Jesus died for you, you are accepting Christ — and to accept Christ is to receive God’s salvation.
