Encounter With the King of Truth
by Rev. Kirby Williams
Pilate's initial interview with Jesus and the discussion of truth.
Text: John 18:33-38
Date: 05/17/2020, the Combined service.
Series: "John: Encountering Love" Part 177
Description:
The Roman trial continues as Pilate holds his first interview with Jesus. John brings us to another epic confrontation between Jesus and the fallenness of the world. This time it is in the form of a man who is so detached from the Truth of God, he fails to recognize it, even though He stands right before Him. We will carefully analyze what Jesus means by His "other-worldly Kingdom" and why Pilate cannot comprehend it. Our discussion will center on "truth" and how the absolute truth of God is perfectly manifest in Jesus and completely missing in a world under the domination of satan. Ultimately we will learn that in order to stay "in the Truth" we who are in His Kingdom, must stay "in the Word" and thereby closely aligned with and anchored to the King of Truth.
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I. Introduction
II. Exposition of the text, John 18:33-38.
A. Context
1. John's focus on "the truth", John 1:5, 12:35, 3:19, 8:42-45.
2. Confrontations with evil.
B. Pilate's confrontation with the Kingdom of Truth.
1. Pilate's initial question, vs. 33.
a. The drama of defilement.
b. A direct question.
i. Harmonizing the Gospels, Luke 23:2.
ii. Not a speck of truth.
iii. Pilate's skepticism.
2. Jesus' counter-question, vs. 34.
a. The "interviewed" becomes the "interviewer", John 18:21,23.
b. The reason for the counter-question.
c. Changing the course of the conversation, John 2:24-25.
d. Prophet, Priest and King, John 18:32.
3. Pilate's intellectual curiosity grows, vs. 35.
a. An aggravated response.
b. A "loaded" question.
i. Probing the accusation.
ii. A growing curiosity.
4. Pilate's encounter with the Word of Truth, vs. 36.
a. A profound privilege, John 1:1,14,14:6.
b. The nature of Christ's Kingdom.
c. A logical conclusion.
5. The Word of Truth, vs. 37.
a. Pilate presses the issue, vs. 37a.
b. The King of the Kingdom of the Word of Truth, vs. 37b.
i. Jesus' affirmative answer.
ii. Paradoxical origins.
• Born to be a King.
• A pre-existant King, John 1:1,14, 17:5.
• Putting the two together, Gal. 4:4-5.
iii. Bearing witness to the truth.
• Witness to the Truth of God, John 14:6.
• The Word of Truth, John 1:14, 17:8,14,17, 15:26,27, Acts 1:8.
• The Truth of the Gospel.
v. His sheep hear His voice.
• There are those of the truth and those who are not.
• Those who are of the truth hear His voice, John 10:26-27.
6. Pilate's fatalistic view of truth, vs. 38.
a. "Truth" to Pilate was relative, John 8:44.
b. "Truth" from an unlikely source, Heb. 4:15.
III. Application
A. Why we are adrift.
1. Adam and Eve and the Serpent, Gen. 3:1,4,5.
2. The two seeds.
3. The advent of the Word of Truth.
4. The dark ages when Truth is hidden.
5. The Reformation.
6. The "Enlightenment".
7. The age of humanism.
B. Staying anchored in the Kingdom.
IV. Conclusion
