Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "What We All Have in Common with Barabbas" (Mark 15:1-15) by Hiram Kemp

Transcript

"What We All Have in Common with Barabbas" (Mark 15:1-15) by Hiram Kemp · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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It's Friday. At this point, it's about six or seven o'clock in the morning.
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The day has started early for Jesus because earlier that day, according to Mark 14, 43
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through 50, he had been previously betrayed by a friend and taken in before the
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Jewish court and accused of blasphemy and a host of other crimes. His problems
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were compounded by the fact that they took him to Annas, who was the father-in-law
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to the high priest, according to John 18, 12 through 14, and he was condemned there
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but then later taken to Caiaphas, where he was also condemned by the Sanhedrin
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and ultimately sentenced to death. In the midst of this first Jewish trial,
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a very close friend, Mark 14, 66 to 72, also denied having any association
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with Jesus and knowing him whatsoever. And to add on top of all of that,
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in the midst of his Jewish trial, he was accused of blasphemy, slapped in the face,
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they plucked his beard, according to prophecy in Isaiah, and they spit on him.
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Early that morning, they take him, according to Mark 15 in verse 1,
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and they take him before Pilate, and they want Pilate to do for them what they can't
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do as Jews, and that is to execute Jesus according to Roman law.
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Pilate has questions for Jesus, of which Jesus gives him literally no information.
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Mark 15 in verse 5 says that Jesus' silence astounds Pilate, and he marvels
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at his silence in the midst of all of the accusations and all of the things that the
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Jews say against him. But Pilate has a custom, Mark 15 in verse 6,
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that he normally releases one of the Jewish prisoners to the people,
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and this is Pilate's plan. Pilate can get himself off the hook,
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keep his hands clean, and refuse to frustrate further the Jewish leaders by putting Jesus
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next to a most notorious criminal. And in the midst of that,
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it'll be obvious that Jesus is better than this man, and as a result,
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he should go free. It's the perfect plan, except it isn't.
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Pilate underestimates how much the Jewish people really hate Jesus,
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and so he puts Jesus next to a man by the name of Barabbas.
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But the people, they still, in the midst of all of this,
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they cry out for Barabbas. They say, give us Barabbas.
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Pilate says, what do you want me to do with the man that's called the King
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of the Jews? And they say, crucify him.
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Mark 15 in verse 10 says, it was simply envy.
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That was the motivation for delivering him up, but evidently, envy was enough.
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They say, give us Barabbas. Pilate takes Jesus, has him scourged,
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and delivers him to be crucified. The man by the name of Barabbas,
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we know very little about him other than his name.
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All four gospel accounts mention him, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
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At the end of Jesus' life, he stands in relatively close proximity
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to Jesus, but their lives couldn't be farther apart as far as the spiritual
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nature of both of their lives and what they were really ultimately all about.
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But our life next to Barabbas couldn't possibly parallel his life any closer.
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I'm not preaching this sermon this morning because I believe that we're guilty
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of murder or insurrection or revolt against our government like Mark tells us
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Barabbas was in Mark 15 in verse 7, but because there is a sense in which the
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Holy Spirit puts this passage here for a reason, and it's to help us hopefully
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to see ourselves, to see ourselves in light of Scripture and what we learn
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about Barabbas, a man whose life we might be tempted to just sort of rush past in the
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details of the gospels. Why does the Bible put him here?
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Why does the Bible name him? Why is he in every one of the gospel
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accounts? And it's so hopefully we can see ourselves in light of his life.
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What the Bible tells us about Barabbas is ultimately telling us also
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about ourselves. All of his problems, in a sense, are ours, and his solution is
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ours as well. We learn from Barabbas that we all are in basically the same situation,
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the world's trying to deceive us, and the solution that propels us all forward is
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the same solution Barabbas was facing. If you have your Bible, turn to Mark 15.
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If you ever think to yourself as you examine your life, you know,
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I'm not nearly as bad as other people. Maybe I've got some shortcomings here
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or there, but I'm not as nearly as bad as other people. I need Jesus,
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I need God to button up some of the loose ends, but I'm in pretty good shape.
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Then the story, the narrative of Barabbas is for you. If most people in your life,
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on your job, and maybe in your family and in your social circles typically applaud
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you and your behavior, and you get glowing reviews about how amazing you are,
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you need to spend time studying the life of Barabbas. If you sing the gospel in song,
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partake of it in supper, and even digest it in sermon, but you rarely ever move
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to great emotional response and view of the fact that God did that for me,
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then you, like me, need to spend time with what the Bible tells us about Barabbas.
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And if you examine your life in light of all of this and you say,
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I feel there's relatively little hope for me, then the story of Barabbas is for you too.
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What I want to do briefly this morning is just show you three simple ways in which
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our life is very similar to Barabbas, three ways or three things we all have in common
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with Barabbas. Number one, we're guilty and we're condemned. Number two,
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the world lies to every one of us. And then number three, Jesus takes our place.
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Number one, we're guilty and condemned. Number two, the world lies to us.
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And then number three, Jesus takes our place and gives us a second chance.
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Here's what we all have in common with Barabbas. Number one,
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we're guilty and condemned. If you look at any one of the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark,
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Luke, or John, you'll get this picture. But if you put them all together,
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it becomes apparently clear. Matthew tells us in Matthew 27 and verse 16 that he was
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a notorious prisoner. Mark tells us in Mark 15 and verse 7 that Barabbas was arrested
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with the rebels in prison and he was guilty of rebellion or the insurrection.
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Luke's account is similar. In Luke 23, 18, and 19, he says that Barabbas was a part
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of those that rose up in instigation against the Roman government.
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And then John tells us in John 18 and verse 40 that Barabbas was a robber.
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All four Gospel accounts lay out his guilty charges for several reasons.
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One, it was just evident, everybody knew it. But secondly, so that we get a glimpse
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of just how bad this man was, he was a murderer, he was a robber,
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he was guilty of rebellion against his government. It's what Paul says in
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Galatians 5 and verse 19, the works of the flesh are evident, which are these?
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And so it is with Barabbas. But what every one of us has in common
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with Barabbas is all of us are guilty and condemned. The question is not,
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can you see the sins and the shortcomings of Barabbas? Certainly you can.
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The question is, can you see your own? Solomon says in Proverbs 20 and verse 9,
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who can say, I've made my heart clean, I'm pure from my sin?
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Isn't that always the question? The question is never how clearly and how
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easily can you see the sins of others? The question is always,
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how can you see your own? How clearly do you see your own and the
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consequences that follow? Psalm 143 and verse 2, the psalmist says
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concerning his relationship to God and really that of all of humanity,
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that there is none that stands righteous before you. Romans 3, 9 through 11,
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Paul says both Jews and Greeks are both confined under sin.
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There's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understands,
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none that seeks after God. All have sinned and fallen short of the
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glory of God, Romans 3, 23, and the wages for those sins is death,
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Romans 6 and verse 23. The first thing we all have in common
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with Barabbas is we're guilty and we deserve to be condemned.
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We can see it in the life of Barabbas so clearly and often in the life of others,
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but we struggle to see it in our own. And so God puts him here in the narrative
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of the gospel to say, I really want you to see yourself.
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There's the famous story told of what took place in the early 1900s.
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The London Times reached out to several prominent authors and asked them all one
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question and wanted them to write in their response.
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They even surveyed some religious authors, people of the Christian persuasion.
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And this was the question, what's wrong with the world today?
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They surveyed one man and asked him to write in a prominent author by the name
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of G.K. Chesterton. He's of a Christian persuasion,
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a religious man, wrote Bible commentaries and other religious literature,
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and they wrote to him, G.K. Chesterton, what's wrong with the world today?
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He responded in a one-sentence essay, and here was Chesterton's response.
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Dear sir, I am. You see, what Chesterton saw, he had a sensitivity to his own
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weakness, his own sin problem, and he knew amidst all the things going wrong
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with the world, he and his own weaknesses and shortcomings was contributing to that
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by the very virtue of the fact that he was a sinner.
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Ecclesiastes 7 and verse 20 says, there's not a just person on the earth who always
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does what's right and never sins. We can see it with Barabbas,
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but the gospel was designed so that we can see it in ourselves.
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Hold your hand in Mark 15 and go to Psalm 51. In Psalm 51, this is David's account
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of his repentance and confession. There's probably even a superscription or a
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heading in your Bible above Psalm 51 when David committed adultery with Bathsheba,
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and after that, orchestrated the death of her husband Uriah.
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And as David is confessing his sin, he says two things that are especially
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important concerning guilt and the need for condemnation.
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In Psalm 51 and verse 3, David says, I acknowledge my transgression,
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and my sin is continually before me. You see, the first thing David does in Psalm
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51 and verse 3 is David confesses and acknowledges his own transgression
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for himself. David needs to do this because the greatest lies we tell are the
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lies we tell ourselves. That's why the psalmist says in Psalm 119
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and verse 29, Lord, keep me from telling myself untruths or lies.
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David says, I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is always before me.
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I'm guilty. But he says more. Look at verse 4.
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Against you and you only have I sinned and done this wickedness in your sight,
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that you might be blameless when you speak and justified when you judge.
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David is saying to God, I've sinned against you in the highest way,
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and whatever punishment is mine, I'm not only guilty, but I stand
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to be condemned. When he says against you and you only have I sinned,
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David's not saying he didn't sin against Bathsheba or Uriah or even all of Israel,
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but he's saying his foremost transgression is against his God,
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and whatever punishment will result will be fully deserving.
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What does everybody in the world have in common with Barabbas?
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We're guilty, and we stand condemned. You need to see it because in Mark 15
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and in Matthew 27, you see this man, and I mean, you can't miss him.
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He's soiled in his unrighteousness. He has a rap sheet longer than a CVS receipt,
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and you say, I see him. I know what's wrong with him.
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But what God's saying is, you've got the very same thing.
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Romans 7, 21, Paul talks about his life before he became a Christian, and he says,
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when I would do good, evil was always present with me.
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Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body
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of this death? Romans 7 and verse 24, it's important that we see where we stand.
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Do you ever ride in the car with people who are always speeding,
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but whenever you say to them they're speeding, they never are?
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You say, hey, you're driving pretty fast, and they always say something like,
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nope, I'm going with the flow of traffic, or I'm doing the speed limit,
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or I'm actually doing this just to get around this traffic jam, but speeding,
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no, I would never, or at least I have never, or not as much as you accuse me of it.
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Same thing kind of happens with people that run red lights.
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It's always, nope, I didn't, it was yellow, dark orange at best,
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not red though, didn't speed through, it wasn't me.
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With the advent of the radar gun after World War II and its present use today,
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you know what they found? A lot of people who claim they weren't
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speeding, guess what? They were speeding.
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And with the traffic cameras, a lot of people go out, they check the mail,
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they open up their mailbox, and you know what they find?
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They find two pictures. One in a freeze frame of where they were
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when the light was actually yellow, and another one of them going through the
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light when the light was actually red. And you know what they find out?
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You can't argue against the photography. It's there, it's in the picture.
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You're wrong, it's there in black and white, you missed it.
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And when Barabbas goes out to check his mail, he's not the only one that finds out,
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you know what, he's crossed the line. You've got mail out there too,
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and so do I. But not just once, there are these repeated
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infractions as we fall short of the grace and of the glory of God.
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And the Bible's holding Barabbas up to say, you're guilty and you're condemned,
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not that we...so that we can have a sin party though.
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The Bible wants us to know we have this in common with Barabbas so that we might be
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compassionate and gracious toward other people.
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God says, remember where you stood before I intervene.
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And as you sing, as we've done a moment ago, about the victory in Jesus and the
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grace that is ours in Christ, the only thing that's changed our status
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in comparison with him is the grace of God. Paul says,
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in you has he made alive who were dead in your trespasses and in your sins.
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Where in times past you walked according to the course of this world,
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according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that's now at work in
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the sons of disobedience. He says, we all had our conversation in
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this way in times past, but God who is rich in mercy because of
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the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses
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and sins, made us alive together with Christ.
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Who's made the difference? God through Jesus Christ.
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When you get frustrated with reckless people that you work with or people in
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your family that aren't all that they should be or could be,
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remember this reality, you're just like Barabbas.
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When we watch the news and we sometimes see people do terrible things and we say
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to ourselves, I don't know how they could, God's reminding us through Barabbas,
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oh, yes, you do. Because you've either done the same
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things or at least they're capable of as much.
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Romans 2, Paul says, oh, Jewish man, you're inexcusable in that you
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condemn others, don't you condemn yourself, Romans 2 and verse 1.
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It's a reminder that apart from the grace of God and what he does in intervening
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for us in and through the person of Jesus, we're all guilty and we stand condemned.
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Here's number two. What we all have in common with Barabbas
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is we've been lied to by the world. Throughout the trial, Barabbas says
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The people say a lot and everything that they say about or to Barabbas is
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completely false. Pilate asked them, which one do they want
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released? And Pilate thinks this is going to be easy.
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In Matthew's account, he poses it as a question.
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Matthew 27 and verse 16, do you want me to release to you Barabbas or Jesus who's
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called the King of the Jews? In Luke's account, we're told he even
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tries to release Jesus. Luke 23 and verse 16, he says,
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I'll punish him and deliver him back to you.
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But you know what they say? They say, give us Barabbas.
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John's account is emphatic. John 18, 39 through 40, they say,
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not this man, but Barabbas. And though they don't say anything
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to Barabbas, it's implied in their statement that we want Barabbas instead
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of Jesus. The lie they're telling him is, hey,
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you're actually better. You're the better choice here.
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You're the right choice. You're the right selection.
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But they're deceiving him. They're lying to him.
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And what we have in common with Barabbas is the world tells us the very same
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things. The world deceives us, and the world lies to us about our
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spiritual standing and status apart from Jesus, and we need to see it clearly.
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They claim that they want Barabbas, but really what they want is they want
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to be rid of Jesus. They don't care if Barabbas lives.
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They just want Jesus dead. This is as old as the Garden of Eden.
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Eve can't see it in Genesis 3. The devil doesn't love her.
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The devil, he just hates God. And so he says, has God said you may eat
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of every tree that's in the garden? God knows, and the day you eat thereof,
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your eyes will be opened, and you'll be like God.
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You'll know good and evil. It's deception.
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And the world's telling us all the very same things.
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There are these lies. There are these deceptions.
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And Barabbas is being misled by the people. They don't love him.
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They don't care about him. He's merely a means to an end for them.
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How could they? How could they really want Barabbas?
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At the end of the day, he's guilty of everything that they're ultimately trying
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to kill Jesus for. He's rebelled against the government.
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He's a murderer. He's a robber.
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Their community isn't better because Barabbas is out among the people.
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But you must never underestimate humanity's ability to willfully choose
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things that are bad for them. No matter how much evidence you provide,
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you must never underestimate humanity, including yourself, our ability to choose
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things that are bad for us willingly no matter what.
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I don't think they can put enough information on the outside of a little
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Debbie's oatmeal pie box to stop me from eating them and buying them.
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Doesn't really matter what they put. I like them, I want them, and you laugh.
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But you choose foolishly all the time too. How many times in your life have you said,
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you know what? Give me Barabbas. Just give me Barabbas.
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The world says it'll be fun. It'll be exhilarating.
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It'll be long-lasting. But it turns out to be gruesome,
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short-lived, and terrible. 1 John 2, 15 through 17, John says,
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love not the world, neither the things that are in it.
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If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
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All that's in the world. The lust of the flesh.
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That means if it feels right, it must be right.
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The lust of the eye, if it looks good for me, it must be good for me.
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And the pride of life. How many times do we take the world up
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on that and we say, this is what I want, I'm going to take it?
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The world deceives us and it lies to us and it says, what you need is more stuff as we
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stuff down the things that really matter. Hebrews 13, 5 and 6.
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The world tells us, hey, you can have joy apart from God.
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If you circumvent the gospel and you circumvent Christianity and go around it,
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you can be truly happy. Even though Psalm 16 says,
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in his presence, there's fullness of joy and at his right hand are the pleasures
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forevermore, Psalm 16 and verse 11. We're no different than Barabbas.
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The world is lying to us all the time and we're wiser and better when we see it
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and when we acknowledge it and when we can go in the way of truth.
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Anthony Bradley is a professor and a sociologist, but specifically in religious
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areas and talking about religion and family. He released a report this week that
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he found in his studies that middle-class families in America,
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especially those that claim to be Christians, have made a turn recently.
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He says, middle-class families that claim to be Christians are no longer cautioning
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their young people, their children, their grandchildren, their nephews and nieces,
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to steer away from unrighteousness because it's sinful, because it's a vice,
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and because it'll destroy your soul. He says, no, the language you're most often
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to hear today in families is, you shouldn't do X, Y, or Z because it'll
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hurt your future. And he says, see, that language is problematic.
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You've given in to the lie of the world because the greatest danger of sin is not
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to your earthly future, but to your everlasting soul.
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Jesus says in Matthew 10, 28, don't say, don't fear those that can destroy the
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body, but after that have nothing else they can do, but instead fear the one that can
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destroy both body and soul in hell. If you feed people this repeated diet,
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that sin ultimately can only hurt your future, people start reasoning
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to themselves, okay, so as long as I can sin silently and keep myself marketable
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to the masses, then I can just still go along and do this thing.
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But it's a lie from the world. The greatest danger people are facing is
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to their souls, not their earthly future. But we're no different from Barabbas.
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They lied to him, they lied to us. 2 Corinthians 11, 13 through 15,
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Paul says, don't be surprised when the devil's messengers transform themselves
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into angels of light. He's been doing this from the beginning,
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and they follow in his footsteps. John 8 and verse 44 says,
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the devil is a murderer and a liar from the beginning.
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When he does this, he's in line with his very own nature.
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And so we need to be wise. Barabbas is lied to by the world,
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and we're no different. Some of you know Bernie Madoff,
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once upon a time, a famous stockbroker and financial advisor.
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People used to write in and beg for Madoff to oversee their financial accounts,
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giving him all their money, their life savings. That wasn't until 2008,
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when he was arrested by the FBI for several charges concerning securities fraud.
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In 2009, he pled guilty to 11 felonies and essentially said,
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everything that I told people about what I could do financially for them was a lie.
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I misled them. I could do none of those things.
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He's responsible for the greatest Ponzi scheme in the history of the world,
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stealing over $65 billion from people. You know, people retired in confidence.
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Madoff says, I'm set. I'm good to go. They gave him their life savings.
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The statements look good. He would send them statements about the growth of their
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investments and their accounts. There were no accounts. There was no money there.
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It was false. And these people say to Barabbas, we want you to go free.
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They fail to tell him, even when he leaves, he's still Barabbas.
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The world sends us statements all the time. You're not a Christian.
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Just stay right where you are. You're safe with God.
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Don't worry about obeying the gospel. And Barabbas is being misled.
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The world tells us, hey, no matter what, you just keep that sin right there where
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it is. Everybody's struggling with something. Don't get radical.
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Don't do anything to change, even though Hebrews 10.26 says,
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if you sin willfully after you've received the knowledge of the truth,
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there no longer remains any sacrifice for sin. Barabbas was lied to and deceived
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by the world, and the only thing that'll extinguish that dishonesty is the truth.
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Jesus says, if you continue in my word, you're my disciples, you'll know the truth,
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and the truth will set you free, John 8.32. Sanctify them in the truth.
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Your word is truth, John 17.17. You desire truth in the inward part,
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Psalm 51 and verse 6, but we're just like Barabbas. And the more alert we are of the
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dishonesty being sold to us, the better we'll be. Here's the last one, number three.
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What we all have in common with Barabbas is that Jesus takes our place.
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If you have your Bible in Mark 15, notice what's said by Pilate in verse 12.
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He says, after the chief priest instigates this in verse 10 and says,
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hey, make sure that you hand over Barabbas instead, verses 10 and 11.
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The chief priest gets the whole crowd to go along with this. Pilate says,
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and what do you want me to do with the one that's called the King of the Jews?
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And they cry out, crucify him. Pilate says, why? What evil has he done?
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They won't even answer the question. They say it again, crucify him.
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Verse 15 says, so he had Jesus scourged and delivered him over to be crucified.
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Here's what we know. On Golgotha, there were three crosses.
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Two thieves were going to be crucified that day, and the man by the name of Barabbas
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was guilty against Rome for insurrection, murder, and robbery.
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The other cross was most assuredly his. But Jesus takes his place.
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Luke 23 and verse 25 says, Jesus was crucified instead of Barabbas.
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What he literally did for Barabbas, though, he's done for every one of us.
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Jesus takes his place, undeserving of his punishment, and steps in.
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So Barabbas doesn't have to take that cross, and neither do we.
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What everybody in the world has in common with Barabbas is that Jesus stands
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in their place and takes the death that ultimately should be theirs.
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Imagine Barabbas. Historians tell us that Barabbas was stationed at Antonia Fortress,
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which is about some 2,000 feet, maybe a half a mile away from where Pilate is.
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John 19 and verse 13 says, Pilate spoke to the people from the pavement at Gabbatha.
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He probably couldn't hear Pilate over this loud, raging mob as Pilate says,
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which one of these do you want me to release?
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But he heard the roaring crowd as they cried out, Barabbas.
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And then he probably couldn't hear Pilate from almost a half a mile away as Pilate
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says to him, and what do you want me to do with Jesus?
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Crucify him.
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So far as we know, the only thing Barabbas heard was his name, Barabbas,
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followed shortly after that with, crucify him.
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And that's what he would be expecting.
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He woke up that morning assured that he was going to meet his earthly demise.
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When the soldiers come to his prison, his ward, when they meet him in his cell,
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and they start opening the door, surely Barabbas is convinced he's on his way
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to death, but ultimately, he's on his way to freedom.
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Jesus is literally in his place.
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2 Corinthians 5.21 says, he made him to be sin for us who knew no sin,
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that you might become the righteousness of God in him.
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You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich,
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yet for your sake, he became poor, that you, through his poverty,
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might be made rich.
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If anybody knew on this day, I'm supposed to be dead, but this man
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took my place, it had to be Barabbas.
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Jesus took his place, and Jesus has done that for every one of us.
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The cross doesn't just drip with blood, it drips with irony.
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Jesus, the great judge, is held up and judged by the people, John 5.22-24.
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The great high priest, Jesus of Nazareth, Hebrews 4.14, is brought before a crooked
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high priest who won't stand in his place and appeal for his innocence.
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Jesus, the great king of the world, is rejected, king of kings and lord
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of lords, for Caesar is king, and Jesus, the innocent, holy,
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and harmless son of God, is rejected so that a prisoner can go free.
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Project Innocence was started in 1992 by two lawyers, and their goal is to use DNA
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evidence to exonerate people who've been sentenced to sometimes decades,
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and on other occasions, lifetimes in prison.
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And to fix or to remedy what they see as inconsistencies in our justice system.
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To date, they've overturned 250 convictions through DNA.
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People that were on their way to losing their entire lives, in many cases,
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already forfeited many years, and these individuals introduced this
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evidence to say, you've got the wrong guy.
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As Jesus stands there before Pilate, there is no Project Innocence.
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The just for the unjust, 1 Peter 3 and verse 18, Jesus dies for Barabbas,
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but you've got to see it.
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He does the very same thing for you.
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Imagine Barabbas getting let back out into the community, and he runs
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into people and they, hey, what are you doing here?
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We didn't expect to see you.
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There are three people being executed today.
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You know you're guilty, and Barabbas probably can't even put it into words.
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All Barabbas knows is, I thought I was on my way to die, and they took this other
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man instead of me.
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And when you get to heaven, and the angels are there, and all the great faithful,
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with your track record being what we talked about earlier in this lesson,
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and somebody says, what are you doing here?
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You violated commands.
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You were on your way to die.
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Your answer will be much like Barabbas, and so will mine.
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I was supposed to die, but pointing at Jesus, we'll say,
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they took him instead of me.
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On the day when his name should have been called, it wasn't.
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So on the other day, the final day, when only his name should be called,
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yours would be, and so would mine.
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Ephesians 1 and verse 7 says, in him we have redemption,
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the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.
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Barabbas' name means son of the father, and he was received.
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So the ultimate son of the father could be rejected, and we could have
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everlasting life.
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Why is Barabbas in the Bible?
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Because it brings the whole Bible full circle.
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In Barabbas, you see what the whole Bible is pointing to all the time.
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It's Genesis 22.
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Abraham, let Isaac go free.
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Take the ram and the thicket instead.
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It's the Passover of Exodus 12.
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Not the firstborn son, but the blood of the lamb instead.
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It's Leviticus 16, two goats every year placed before Israel.
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One is led off into the wilderness, another crucified for the sins
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of the people.
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It's what the prophets were preaching in Isaiah 53.
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We, like sheep, have all gone astray, but the iniquities of Jesus,
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our iniquities fall on him.
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The story of Barabbas is the Bible in miniature, as God says,
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the guilty go free, and the innocent is condemned in order to save us.
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You look at his life and you think to yourself, whatever became of Barabbas?
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The Bible doesn't tell us.
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You'd like to think he changed his whole life, and from this moment,
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he was never the same.
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Maybe he went back to a life of crime.
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Maybe he left and did something altogether different.
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You know, the people at the foot of the cross, they don't get it,
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but Barabbas had to.
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I deserve to be condemned, but this man died in my place.
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But the Bible doesn't tell us what happened with him, and I think that's
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because God is always letting us write our own story at the end.
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God's saying to you and to me, you know, the same thing could happen to you.
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You could hear this message and say to yourself, he did all that for me,
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but walk out of here and go back to living exactly the way you did before.
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You could hear it and go out and do something altogether different,
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or you could hear it and you could see it and know he's on a cross that should be
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mine and say, I'm going to give this man my whole life.
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It's ultimately up to us.
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We're just like Barabbas.
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Every one of us, we get to choose.
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If you're a Christian, you know, refuse to allow yourself to mumble
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through the songs and go through the supper and just think,
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this is how it's always been.
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Remind yourself of where you stood and where you stand now because
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of Jesus Christ.
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And if you're not a Christian, appreciate where you stand and
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refuse to stand still.
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Draw near to God because only in him is the guilt taken away, Isaiah 6 and verse 7.
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You want to be able to say on the last day, what are you doing here?
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I don't deserve to be.
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But one day, there were two men, and God took him instead of me.
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David's going to lead us in a song to encourage us.
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If you believe that Jesus is the son of God and you're ready to turn away
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from your sins, confess Jesus as the son of God before this audience.
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We'd be happy to immerse you in water for the forgiveness of your sins.
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You'll rise to walk in newness of life.
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And everything Jesus did back then will be true of you.
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You'll hear your name called, not in condemnation, but ultimately
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in justification and forgiveness.
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If you've already done that, we can pray with you and pray for you.
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If you're struggling with sin, we'd love to help you do that.
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If you need to respond, come now as together we stand and as we sing.