When we compromise, we ignore the truth, we give into sinful demands and we make destructive decisions. What compromises have you been making recently in your relationship with Jesus? What truths has Jesus been showing you that you’ve been ignoring? What sinful demands have you been giving in to? What destructive decisions have you made recently?
Look at Luke 23:13 – 25…
13 Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. 15 Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. 16 I will therefore punish and release him.” 18 But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”— 19 a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. 20 Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, 21 but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” 22 A third time he said to them, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” 23 But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. 24 So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. 25 He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.
In this passage we see Jesus on trial again before Pilate. The Son of God, the King of the Universe, the Savior of sinners, Jesus, is on trial once again in front of a Roman ruler with his own people in the background shouting for him to be murdered. It’s a story of compromise. Pilate compromises by ignoring the truth of Jesus’ innocence, which leads him to surrender to the crowd’s sinful demands, which then results in one of the most destructive decisions ever made. This cycle of compromise presents us with a sobering dilemma because, when we compromise, we ignore the truth, we give into sinful demands and we make destructive decisions.
#1. Pilate’s Ignores The Truth… (13-16)
Luke tells us that after king Herod has had his fun with Jesus, Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate and the two of them who once were great enemies, actually became great friends in their united effort to undermine the power, the authority and the goodness of Jesus by seeking to please the murderous intentions of the religious leaders. If you think about this for a minute, the levels and the amount of compromise in this story could be mind numbing if you give it enough time to really sink in.
Luke says that, “Pilate called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, ‘You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him.’” It’s the last phrase of verse 16 that reveals Pilate’s compromising heart. It would be easy for the hurried listener to almost feel empathetic towards Pilate but if you press pause on the narrative for a moment and examine this last phrase in light of the truth of the verdict that Pilate gave in his speech, then you’ll begin to see with great horror what kind of compromising heart was hidden deep within this man.
Pilate called not only the religious leaders but also the common people together to publicly hear the narrative of the charges and the verdict. This public address would have been televised on every major news network in the world. That’s how public Pilate’s compromise was. And you might still be asking: “where is the compromise in all of this?” Notice what Pilate said. He said, “Hey you guys brought a man to me that you accused of being a terrorist. I checked this dude out and he isn’t guilty of anything you accused him of. Furthermore, even your own local political representative, your own local lower court judge, has found this man to be innocent of the charges you’ve brought against him. He’s innocent and doesn’t deserve to die.”
At this point the trial should have been over and the gavel should have fallen and the innocent man should have walked free. But that’s not what happens is it? The truth is, Jesus is innocent of any guilt. Pilate has spoken correctly numerous times and even Herod affirmed what Pilate said. There’s no reason to punish Jesus at all. To punish him in any way is to knowingly and publicly punish an innocent man for crimes that he never committed. How evil of a compromising heart do you have to have to be able to publicly declare a person to be completely innocent but then conclude that public declaration with “I will therefore punish him and release him”? Punish him for what reason? Why would you punish an innocent person? It’s not a just thing to punish innocent people. It’s unjust, cruel and evil to compromise by ignoring the truth that has been revealed to you.
In what ways have you been compromising by ignoring the truth?
The Scriptures teach us that the truth is what sets us free, that Christ is the embodiment of the truth and that if we do not know Christ we do not know the truth and therefore we cannot know the Father because we can only come to know the Father by worshipping Him in Spirit and in truth. Furthermore, when Christ who is the truth sets us free by the truth of the gospel then it is for freedom that Christ sets us free. In other words… The truth sets us free and the truth is this: Jesus Christ is the only one who embodies the truth and extends the freedom we need so desperately so that we can be truly free from every compromise that tempts us to ignore the truth. In what ways have you been compromising by ignoring the truth? Are you ignoring the truth regarding the gift of sex? Are you ignoring the truth in regards to the gift of friendship? Are you ignoring the truth in regards to the gift of money? Are you ignoring the truth in regards to the gift of Jesus as your Savior? When we compromise, we ignore the truth. My prayer is that the Spirit of the living God would open our hearts to the truth of the gospel so that we can repent from the compromises we’ve made that have caused us to ignore the truth of the gospel.
#2. The Crowd Becomes More Demanding… (18-23)
People who demand things irritate me and I have a feeling that Pilate was more than a little irritated by the crowd of demanding people who’d gathered in his court. I actually think that in some manipulative power play, Pilate was almost hoping that the crowd would hear his plea for the innocence of Jesus and accept his compromise to just beat Jesus to a bloody pulp and leave him so disfigured that he would pose no threat to anyone again. In other words, I think that Pilate thought that if he just compromised a little he would save himself from the guilt and the fear he felt over the impending riot if he didn’t give in to the demands of the crowd. But the problem with demanding people is that once they sense some compromise in the air their desire for more compromise gets fed and the beast that wells up from deep within is not just a demanding dragon with a loud scary voice but it’s an overgrown, all consuming, fire-breathing, beast that won’t stop until it devours everything it desires and is now demanding to have.
Luke describes the scene this way when he says, “But they all cried out together, ‘Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas’ – a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder.” Jesus’ enemies were so hell bent on quenching the thirsty desires of their demands that they were willing to propose a compromise of their own. There was a tradition of letting a captive go free from prison to remind the Israelites of how God had set them free from captivity and slavery to Egypt and now Jesus’ enemies see their opportunity to use their religious heritage as a weapon of outright war against the innocent Son of God. They were willing to compromise by letting a convicted terrorist and murderer run free in the streets while demanding the death penalty for an innocent man.
And Pilate seems to be shocked by this so he “addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, ‘Crucify, crucify him!’ (and) A third time he said to them, ‘Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him’ But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified.” Doesn’t this paint a vivid picture of the turmoil that happens deep within your soul when you’re tempted to give into the urgent demands of your heart’s desires? Doesn’t there seem to be a voice of reason and truth that you have to ignore whenever you give into the sinful cravings deep with you heart?
What do you do when your heart is screaming sinful demands at you?
James tells us that, “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it conceives gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15) In other words, our hearts scream sinful demands deep within the courthouse’s of our souls and when we compromise by ignoring the truth that the Holy Spirit preaches to us through the Word of God and the rebuke and encouragement of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we in fact give in to the sinful demands and desires of our hearts. What sinful demands have you been giving into that have caused you to live a life of compromise? Do you give into the sinful demands of bitterness instead of forgiveness? Do you give into the demands of loneliness that cause you to use people for your own pleasure? Do you give into the demands of disappointment that results in anger, slander, gossip and vengeance? When we compromise, we ignore the truth & we give into sinful demands. My prayer is that the Spirit of the living God would open our hearts to the truth of the gospel so that we can repent from the compromises we’ve made that have caused us to ignore the truth and lead us to giving into the sinful demands of our screaming souls.
#3. Pilate Makes A Destructive Decision… (23-25)
Compromise always leads to destructive decisions. With Pilate wavering in compromise and with the crowd demanding more compromise, Luke tells us that the crowd’s “voices prevailed.” In other words, Pilate gave into the demands of the crowd and he “decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.” Pilate’s decision was final. His compromise was complete. The crowd’s demands for more compromise won the fight. Pilate fed the dog that barked louder and that dog devoured all sense of any truth, or any justice, or any goodness. When we compromise, we ignore the truth, we give into sinful demands and we make destructive decisions.
In what ways have you been compromising by making destructive decisions?
When we choose to ignore the invitation of Christ to come and believe in him as our Savior and King we make an eternally destructive decision. When we give into lust instead of resting in the satisfaction of Christ we make a destructive decision. When we spend money that we don’t have or choose not be generous with the money we do have we are making a destructive decision. When we nurse our anger or our bitterness towards someone else instead of forgiving them we make a destructive decision. When we pursue relationships based upon our loneliness and our need rather than being motivated by doing good and godly things with other people we make a destructive decision. In what ways have you been compromising by making destructive decisions? My prayer is that the Spirit of the living God would reveal those areas where we are compromising by making destructive decisions so that we can repent from the compromises we’ve made that have caused us to ignore the truth while giving into the sinful demands of our screaming souls and making decisions that produce destructive fruit in our lives and in the lives of the people around us. In what ways have you been compromising by making destructive decisions?
Concluding thoughts…
It is true that when we compromise, we ignore the truth, we give into sinful demands and we make destructive decisions. But in this truth and in this story there is also a dilemma we must wrestle with as we close our time together. The dilemma we are faced with is found in the contrast between Barabbas and Jesus. Barabbas the sinful man who was guilty of starting violent riots that resulted in murder was in a prison of his own making that he couldn’t get out of in his own strength and he was facing the death penalty for his sin.
And in walks Jesus, preaching, teaching, healing, confronting and giving himself willingly over to his enemies so that he could be mocked and shamed and beaten and abused and sentenced to death as an innocent man, giving himself to pay the sinners price of death so that guilty men like Barabbas could be set free. So that guilty men and women like you and me could be set free.
So while we may stand in harsh criticism of the compromise of Pilate as he ignores the truth and surrenders to the sinful demands of the crowd by making the most destructive decision ever made the truth is, that if we understand our own guilt in compromise, if we understand how often we have ignored the truth, if we understand how often we give into the sinful demands of our hearts, if we understand the depth of the destructive decisions we’ve made, then we must stand with the crowd and scream at the top of our lungs for Pilate to “Crucify, crucify, this Jesus… so that I a guilty sinner can walk the streets in freedom.”
Do you see this dilemma? Is your heart gripped by this dilemma? You see, the bad news is that when we compromise, we ignore the truth, we give into sinful demands and we make destructive decisions. But the glorious good news of this text is that we can be like Barabbas. We can walk out of here released from the bondage of our compromises. We can hear the truth of the gospel that sets us free. We can make decisions that flow from our new lives in Christ. We can do all of this because Jesus was crucified in our place. Jesus didn’t compromise. Jesus didn’t ignore the truth but instead he embodied the truth so that we can have free access to our Heavenly Father. Jesus didn’t give into sinful demands but instead gave his life as a ransom and a payment for the sinful demands that we’ve given into. Jesus didn’t make destructive decisions but instead he made decisions that brought new life for all who would trust in him.
So where are you at the end of this message? Will you continue to compromise? Will you continue to ignore the truth? Will you continue to give into your sinful demands? Will you continue to make destructive decisions? My prayer is that the Spirit of the living God would open our hearts to the truth of the gospel so that we can repent from the compromises we’ve made. Repent from ignoring the truth of the gospel. Repent from giving into the sinful demands of our screaming souls. Repent from the decisions that have caused the destructive death of Jesus at the cross of Calvary as we cling to that very cross for salvation. And walk in the same freedom that Barabbas experienced the day that Pilate’s compromise lead him to ignore the truth and give into the sinful demands that lead to the most destructive and life giving decision of all time. Will you continue to compromise or will you hold fast to that which is true and walk in freedom from the bondage of the sin of compromise that the cross of Christ offers you?