To Encourage You

John 18:35 “Pilate answered, “Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”

In the line of questioning above, Pilate was indeed perplexed. Here was One standing before him who claimed to be the King of the Jews, yet the very ones He was supposedly ruling over hated Him. They wanted to kill Him. So, Pilate’s burning question was “What on earth have you done?!”  So, what had He done?  He hadn’t harmed anyone or stolen anyone’s property like the murderous thief Barabbas.  He hadn’t stolen anyone’s property.  He hadn’t been an insurrectionist leading some uprising against the Roman government. He hadn’t done anything wrong, so far as Pilate could tell. In fact, when Pilate was done with Jesus, all he could say was “I find no guilt in Him.”  So, what had He done? 

The fact is that He had done one thing that they despised Him for: He had told them the truth. He told them the truth about their sin.  He exposed their hypocrisy. He warned them of the coming judgment against their sin. He told them the truth about their self-righteousness. He told them that they weren’t serving God, although they prided themselves in saying that they, of all people, were the chosen ones of God.  No, Jesus had told them, you are of your father, the devil. He told them the truth about His identity: that He was their long-awaited Messiah.  He told them that He was their only way to God and if they rejected Him, they would end up in Hell.  He told them the truth about all these things, and they hated Him for it. 

So, what’s your reaction when someone tells you these same things – the truth that you and I are sinners, that Jesus is the only Way to God, and that unless we believe in Him we will end up in Hell?  Do those things anger you? Do you reject them out of hand?  Do you despise anyone who would have the gall to say anything like that to you?  Do you think that the people that tell you your sin is ok are those that love you, and those who tell you the truth about your sin really hate you?  If you do, then you are in league with those who condemned Jesus to the cross. 

If you think about it, to hate someone for telling you the truth, the only truth that will give you hope for all eternity, makes absolutely no sense.  And in the end, if one continues on that path, the question they will be faced with is, ”What have you done?”  Jesus only told us the truth.  Why on earth would we turn against Him and reject Him, or anyone else that tells us what He has said, when the only motive for that message is love, i.e., a love that is so strong, that He was willing to die for us, just so we would be able to receive it?