Why is Pontius Pilate's name mentioned in our great confessions of faith? Stay tuned for Renewing Your Mind, Weekend Edition. Welcome to this weekend edition of Renewing Your Mind with author and teacher Dr. R.C. Sproul. Dr. Sproul is also the Senior Minister of Preaching and Teaching at St. Andrews, a Reformed congregation in Sanford, Florida. On any given Lord's Day, the Lord's people could be heard reading the Apostles' Creed during corporate worship. The corporate reciting of creeds, the public confession of faith, has been a practice since the first Christians said, Jesus is Lord. But why should we mention someone like Pontius Pilate in our public affirmations of faith? Perhaps if he had an attorney today, he would ask why Pilate is singled out from among all the other guilty people who had a hand in the crucifixion of Jesus. Today on Renewing Your Mind, as we continue our way through the Gospel of John, Dr. Sproul will revisit that historic meeting between Jesus and Pilate. Here's Dr. Sproul. This morning we're going to continue our look at the gospel according to Saint John. I'll be reading from John chapter 18, verses 28 through 38. And 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. Pilate went out to them and said, what accusation do you bring against this man? And they answered and said to him, if he were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him up to you. And then Pilate said to them, you take him and judge him according to your law. The Jews said to him, it's not lawful for us to put anyone to death. the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what death he would die. And then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus answered him, Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning me? Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Your own nation and chief priests have delivered you 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 fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now my kingdom is not from here. Paul therefore said to him, are you a king then? Jesus answered, you say rightly that I am a king. And for this cause I was born. For this cause I've come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth. And everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Pilate said to him, what is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and he said to them, I find no fault in him at all. He who has ears to hear the word of God, let them hear. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost. born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate. I'm sure you all recognize those words that come to us down through the ages from the Apostles' Creed. And in that creed, we have the specific reference to Pontius Pilate And theologians and historians have asked the question throughout the ages, why? Why of all the historic personages that surround the life of Jesus, the Pontius Pilate is elevated to this level of being mentioned every time the creed is confessed? Why not Caesar Augustus? Why not Herod the Great? Why not Caiaphas or Annas? Why Pontius Pilate? And the answer that has been given by the theologians of the church is that it's because of the role Pilate plays in the entire history of redemption, that he functions in the drama of the death of Christ as the persona publica, that public authority who is in the position of judgment. And it is significant that the judgment that he renders after his interrogation of Jesus is the judgment that I just read where he said, I find no fault in him. Well, if this is the verdict, of the Roman governor. Why then does he turn him over to the mob and sentence him to death as we know he finally did? They led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium. And it was early morning. The Praetorium was the place that was used by Pilate and the Romans when Pilate was in Jerusalem. He normally stayed in Caesarea. He only came to Jerusalem when there would be massive gathering of Jewish pilgrims for their annual feasts. And since this was the feast time of the Jews for the Passover, he came to his temporary quarters there in Jerusalem, where the guard itself was also housed in the military headquarters of the Praetorium. They came in the early morning, but listen to this little detail that I want you to pick up on, that the Jews who brought Jesus to Pilate from Caiaphas, we get this little notation from John, They themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Now, there are a couple problems here. We've already seen Jesus eating the Passover, and that was the night before. Why are these Jews worried about eating the Passover? Well, remember that the Passover feast lasted seven days, and in order to participate in the entire feast, the priests and the officials had to maintain complete cleanliness from all forms of defilement. And to enter into the pagan residence of Pontius Pilate was to bring themselves into defilement. And so that they could keep themselves pure for the Jewish feast days, They turned Jesus over to the Praetorian Guard, and they stayed outside. Can you believe that? These men are being unbelievably scrupulous to avoid any defilement while they are involved in the most vile act of human history. As they're delivering the Lamb of God to the slaughter, they're making sure that their hands are absolutely clean in the meantime. What does that tell us? Here are people who are paying attention to the very details of religion without any faith. while their hearts are as far away from God as they possibly can be. When we read the scriptures, the voice of the prophets, we are told over and over again that sometimes God hates religion. And when does he hate it? When it is offered from hearts that are faithless. These people went through all the motions, maintained all the rituals, paid attention to keeping themselves totally clean, following the liturgy of worship perfectly while they were crucifying the Son of God. And we can look from our vantage point in the 21st century back on that incident and say, what hypocrites these people were, how dark were their hearts, where the guns should be turned inward to ourselves, because we crucify the Son of God afresh every time we honor Him with our lips, while our hearts are far from Him. And so when we look at this, instead of looking down our noses at these people who betrayed Jesus, we have to see ourselves in that crowd. Because this is what fallen humanity is like. This is what fallen humanity does, and we are fallen people. Religion without faith. Beloved is a deadly thing. So Pilate went out to them. They wouldn't come in to Pilate. They went out to them. He asked them, he said, what accusation do you bring against this man? Pilate now is following the rules. He's saying, you have to level charges against him. You can't just turn him over to me. I want to know what the charges are. And you can sort of get the hint of disgust in Pilate. Remember, he doesn't like these people in the first place. And he's wondering, what are they dealing with me early in the morning, bringing this guy in here who's a Jew over Jewish disputes and Jewish theology? I don't have anything to do with this guy, so why are they bringing him to me? Listen to how politely the authorities answer Pilate. They answered and said to him, if he were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him up to you. Why do you think we brought him to you, Pilate? You think we brought him to you because we think he's a saint? We brought him to you because he's an evildoer. And it's your job to get rid of evildoers around here. And if he weren't an evildoer, we wouldn't be bothering you here in the middle of the night. I mean, it's an arrogant response that the Jews give to Pilate. And you can tell by his response, he didn't like it at all. Pilate said, you take him. And you judge him according to your law. Pilate wants to wash his hands of it. He wants to back off, just as he symbolically, according to the other Gospels, does in fact wash his hands off it. He says, you take him. He sends him back. Judge him according to your law. But now they reveal why they brought him to Pilate. Let's listen. But it's not lawful for us to put anyone to death. with the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spoke signifying by what death he would die." Ha! That's why you brought him. You're not allowed to kill him, so you want me to kill him. That's the idea. That's why they brought him. So Pilate entered the Praetorium again. He called Jesus, said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Now again, you see what the question is. The accusers have obviously let the cat out of the bag. The trumped-up charge that they bring against Jesus is not theological, but political. He's calling himself a king, and you Romans can't put up with that sort of a thing. That's insurrection. So, Pilate comes to Jesus, gives him the charge. Are you a king? You the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, listen to our Lord's reply. Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning me?" Now who's the interrogator? Now Pilate's on trial before the judge of heaven and earth, who's saying, he said, who told you that I was the king of the Jews? Is this something you came up with on your own, or is it a hearsay? Jesus understood the rules of evidence even then, and the rule against hearsay convictions. And how does Pilate respond? Cynically. He said, am I a Jew? Do you think I would bring this up? Who do I care about what the Jews are doing? None of my business who they're fighting over. I'm not a Jew. I'm not interested in who the king of the Jews is. No, your own nation, your own priests had delivered you to me. So what is it you've done? Well, Jesus gives this cryptic answer. 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. Now listen to what his response is. Oh, are you a king then? What do you think? Duh! If I stand there and tell you that I have a kingdom, then obviously I must be saying I'm a king. I'm trying to answer your question, you know, pilot. I do have a kingdom. Am I going too fast? But my kingdom is not like any kingdom you've ever encountered. My kingdom is not the kind of kingdom that is manifested in this world. My kind of kingdom is not the kind of kingdom that you have in Rome, that is built on violence, on blood, on war, and extortion. That's the way the kingdoms of this world function. But my kingdom is not a world-like kingdom. Jesus is not saying that His dominion and His authority does not include this world. He's not saying that His domain is simply in some transcendent never-never land, some spiritual realm. No! He is the same man who said, all authority on heaven and earth is given to me, and when He is elevated as King of the kings and Lord of the lords, His kingdom is over every king that walks on this earth. But what he is saying here is not that his domain does not stretch over Pilate or over Jerusalem, but he's saying, my kingdom is not like your kingdom. If you want to talk about kingdoms, and I have to answer your questions, we have to be on the same page so that when you ask me if I'm a king, I'm trying to say, yes, I'm a king, but we have to qualify the meaning of that term king in this interrogation. So Pilate hears all this business about his kingdom, it's not of this world. If it was of this world, Jesus would have brought his servants and the angels of heaven, and right now it would be Pilate to be hanging on a cross. Are you a king? You said it. You say rightly that I am a king. Jesus acknowledges His royal mission. Yes, Pilate, I am a king, and for this cause I was born, and for this cause I came into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Now, what does that mean? Jesus is not simply saying that I am truth. I am objective truth, I'm not a relativist, and I'm opposed to all falsehood. All of those things are true. But when he said, my purpose for coming into this world was to bear witness to the truth, what he's saying is, I came here to bear witness and to make plain the truth of God. And the truth of God is that the Lord God omnipotent reigns. And you, Pilate, and the priests out there are all accountable on the final day of judgment to the King of heaven. And I am here to make that manifest. My mission is to bear witness to the truth. And here, as I've told you in the past, I wish that we could read the face of Pilate as he gives his response. Was he speaking sarcastically? I mean, how does he answer? Does he say in a philosophical, speculative way, gee, well, what is truth? Is he asking Jesus to teach him the truth? I don't think so. Because of his immediate departure, it's obvious that his response is completely cynical. What's truth? how 21st century was Pontius Pilate. We live in a culture where truth is slain in the streets. And people say, well, what's truth? Whatever you want it to be. Whatever turns you on. What you believe, that's true for you. And even though it's the exact opposite of what I believe, it's not true for me, but it's true for you. What I believe is true for me, not true for you. because truth is no longer objective. Francis Schaeffer used to talk about true truth, not because he stuttered, but because he understood that the issue in our day over the very word truth is whether there is such an objective reality that is true for everybody, whoever they are, wherever they live, whatever they do. So that Jesus isn't interested in an existential, personalized, religious truth that turns you on. He's talking about a kingdom that is real, that is objective, and that will measure and judge every person and every proposition that the world brings before it. So when Pilate leaves, He went out to the Jews. The other Gospels tell us He said, ecce homo, but we'll get to that later. Here He says, I find no fault in him at all. Now let me just ask you this. Pilate's interrogating, he's probing, he's listening to the accusations, he's listening to the responses of Jesus, he's looking at Jesus as hard as he can look at him, and he says, I find no fault in him. You know why that was? there wasn't any fault to find in Him. See, in the indirect way, this judge of the earth, this public person, Pontius Pilate, acknowledges the sinlessness of Christ, the one thing you and I can never ever identify with. We've never encountered sinlessness from the day we were born. And anybody could be put under the spotlight in this room this morning and we could find fault and we could find sin. And God doesn't have to hunt very far to find sin in my life or to find sin in your life. But the judge of all the earth could look with a microscope at Jesus and never find fault. Because the man who stood before Pontius Pilate was truth incarnate and a lamb. who was without blandness. The author of Hebrews writes that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. Yet it's not always clear how we should express our faith. How should we live out our faith? What's the evidence of faith in our lives? to God. 1-800-435-4343. Again, that's 800-435-4343. Or visit rymoffer.com. That's R-Y-M as in renewing your mind, and the word offer.com. That web address is for this week's special offer only. Today's message, A Gift from God, is the fifth part of a six-part series entitled, Faith, the Evidence of Things Unseen. In the Faith, the Evidence of Things Unseen series, Dr. Sproul addresses the ways people have distorted the meaning of faith, demonstrating that faith is not simply a feeling or a blind hope. Rather, it's based upon God's grace and sustained by His Word. Call today to get your copy. 1-800-435-4343. Again, that's 800-435-4343. Or visit rymoffer.com. That's R-Y-M as in renewing your mind, and the word offer.com. We're out of time for this edition of Renewing Your Mind. Thank you for listening. Join us again next weekend as Dr. Sproul continues to take us through the Gospel of John. Until then, join us on Facebook at Facebook.com slash Ligonier. You're listening to Renewing Your Mind Weekend Edition, the listener-supported radio outreach of Ligonier Ministries in Orlando, Florida. you.