You Have To Make A Choice!
The Gospel of John
John Chapter 19
Scripture: John chapter 19: 4, 6, 10-12, 16
4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him."
6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify!Crucify!" But Pilate answered, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him."
10 "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" 11 Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin." 12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar."
16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
Observation: Pilate HAD a choice! He knew that Jesus was innocent. At every turn of these events Pilate had the chance to do the right thing. He could have let Jesus go free. We know that Jesus was required to die to be the Savior of the world but Pilate had a choice to make. Pilate did not know that God's eternal plan for Jesus was to die, all Pilot knew was that he was having an encounter with someone who claimed to be "the Son of God" and that made him even more afraid. (see verse 7-8) I cannot believe that this encounter with Jesus was much different than any other encounter people had when they met Jesus. When you met Jesus you had a decision to make. Did you believe that he was who he claimed to be? Pilate faced the peer pressure from the Jews and he had to decide for Jesus or for himself! Pilot at first tried to appease the mob and hand them Barabbas to cover for himself and to not be forced to make a decision about Jesus. Next, Pilot tried to appease the mob and again cover himself by having Jesus whipped. These attempts all had failed to relieve him of his responsibility. Pilot was still forced to make a decision; would he choose what he knew was right and let Jesus go or would he chose for his own safety and hand Jesus to the Jews? Would he condemn an innocent man to cover his own reputation? Would he risk losing favor with the Jews by not bowing to their demands? Pilot knew what he should do. He knew which decision was the right one to make but Pilot chose to NOT allow Jesus to go free. Pilot handed Jesus over to the Jews to be crucified and even sent his guard to do it!
Application: How often do I like Pilot, knowing what to do, willingly allow something or someone to talk me out of making the right decision! Pilot had a choice and so do we. We can listen to the mob (the world and its culture) and bow down to their pressure or we can do what we know we should do. Are we more concerned about what people say about us (our reputation) than we are about doing what we know is right? How many times do we try to offer some compromised ploy as a way to escape responsibility? Like Pilot, we often try to please every body instead of just doing what we KNOW that we are supposed to do! We must learn to trust God to help us overcome the temptation to compromise and protect our self interest. We must call on the Lord for strength and: WE MUST DO WHAT WE KNOW IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO NO MATTER the CONSEQUENCES!
Prayer: Lord Jesus you have placed your Holy Spirit in me to help me KNOW what to do. I want to obey and follow you. Help me to not compromise to peer pressure but instead stay true to my convictions and do what I KNOW that you are telling me to do!
