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As an angry mob demanded death for an innocent man, a Roman governor faced an impossible dilemma, despite knowing the truth. How could justice be so completely overturned by collective pressure and hatred? Explore this pivotal moment in history and uncover what it reveals about our own hearts and the incredible exchange that offers us freedom today.
📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/trading-places
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📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/trading-places
#mlcc #church #churchonline
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LearningTranscript
00:00Newsweek published in 1992 this article by Bill Buffard.
00:03He actually was, he ran with some British soccer hooligans.
00:09I don't know if you're aware, but soccer in Europe is a very big thing.
00:13It is, I've seen grown men with muscles four times bigger than me
00:17at the end of a soccer game that their team lost, weeping like a child.
00:21So, I mean, it is a big thing.
00:23So he was going to chronicle their life, this Bill Buffard.
00:27So he began running with them.
00:28What he found out was fascinating and revolting at the same time.
00:35They rioted like clockwork regularly.
00:40They vandalized, they stole, and even murdered people.
00:46Hundreds of people have died in soccer-related riots in the last decade.
00:50This again was in 1992, Newsweek put this out.
00:54One of the soccer participants who he interviewed said,
00:57Hey, soccer for us, it's like a religion.
01:00Really?
01:00Saturday is our day of worship.
01:02This is how seriously they take this thing.
01:05But Buffard discovered something even more as he joined the rioters,
01:10that he too began being seduced by the violence.
01:15And this is what he wrote.
01:16He said,
01:17The crowd is in all of us.
01:19It isn't an instinct or a need.
01:21But for most of us, the crowd holds out certain essential attractions.
01:26It is like an appetite, something in which dark satisfactions can be found.
01:32Mob violence has less to do with poverty or oppression, he believes,
01:35than with abandoning individual will to the larger, ominous power of the crowd.
01:42And that is so true.
01:44If you watch mobs and riots, typically people that you may even know that got wrapped up in a riot
01:51or a mob,
01:51you would say they would never do that as an individual.
01:54But something happens when you get in a group of people,
01:57somehow you abandon your will to the will of the entire group,
02:00and you start doing stuff you wouldn't normally do.
02:04That's what's happening today in the text.
02:06We have this mob of people that has been incited by the religious leaders of the day,
02:11and they are inciting this mob,
02:13probably as individuals they would have never behaved and acted this way.
02:16But together as the mob, they began thinking and acting this way.
02:20They were seduced into the violence, in a sense.
02:24We're going to be in Luke chapter 23.
02:26We're coming up to Resurrection Sunday.
02:28So we're taking a little break from Acts until we want to look at and remember the crucifixion of Christ.
02:35And then, of course, we'll celebrate the resurrection on April 5th.
02:38But in chapter 23 of Luke, we see this.
02:42Pilate knew Jesus was innocent.
02:45He knew it.
02:46There was no question in his mind.
02:47He knew Jesus was innocent and yet caved in to the wicked demands of the people.
02:53He knew he was innocent.
02:56And you and I have read this story a hundred times,
02:59and the logical question we would ask is,
03:01how could such an injustice happen?
03:05Pilate knew he was innocent.
03:07Stated it, we're going to see three times in the text,
03:10he's innocent and yet he caved in to the mob violence that called for his death.
03:17What?
03:17What an injustice.
03:19How could something like that happen?
03:23It's kind of hard putting together the last night of Jesus.
03:26We know he was with his disciples at the Last Supper.
03:29He then gave us a new institution.
03:31We call it the Lord's Table.
03:32After he was with his disciples, he went out.
03:35They sang a hymn and they went out to the Mount of Olives, to the Garden of Gethsemane.
03:39There he is betrayed by Judas with a kiss.
03:42You betray the Son of Man with a kiss, and he kisses Jesus, and he's arrested.
03:48We know the story.
03:49The servant of the high priest's ears cut off.
03:51Jesus heals the ear.
03:52But then he's taken away.
03:54But that's kind of where we lose track with a little of time frame of what we're talking about.
03:58Now, Charles Swindoll put together this.
04:01This is approximate times, okay?
04:03Not, don't hold them fast, but approximate times.
04:06So Jesus' trial unfolded across several hours, beginning around 1.30 a.m.
04:11So he's been up all day.
04:13He's still awake.
04:16That's his arrest, followed by an initial questioning before Annas at approximately 2 a.m.
04:23Then an unofficial hearing for Caiaphas at his residence around 3 a.m.
04:29That gives time for the Sanhedrin to gather together the religious body, the law body of Israel.
04:36So they gather together at 6 a.m.
04:39He's brought before the Sanhedrin to confirm his capital sentence of his life.
04:45And then Pilate's first interview, his first interrogation took place around 6.30 a.m.
04:55And then Jesus goes over to Herod around 7 a.m.
04:59He comes back to Pilate around 7.30 for his last interrogation.
05:05And the sentence of death.
05:08So this is the best time frame we're talking about here.
05:11Now Luke 23, 1 through 5 describes Pilate's first interrogation.
05:16His first interrogation around 6.30 a.m.
05:206 through 12 describes Herod's interrogation around 7 a.m.
05:23Again, general time frame.
05:26Now verse 13 begins with Pilate's second interrogation and the final judgment.
05:30So we're at about 7.30 a.m. in the morning.
05:35If you have your Bibles open, we're going to start in verse number 13 of chapter 23.
05:39I want you to take a look at this.
05:40This is God's word.
05:41We want to look at it together.
05:44Verse 13.
05:45Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people.
05:48So some things have been happening up at this point.
05:51I'll kind of fill in the chronological order of what's going on as we go through the sermon.
05:55But he calls them together for the last time and said to them,
05:58You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people.
06:02And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against
06:07him.
06:08He's innocent.
06:09Neither did Herod.
06:10He went to Herod and Herod didn't find any fault in him either.
06:13For he sent him back to us.
06:15He wouldn't have sent him back if there was something wrong.
06:17He would have carried out the penalty himself right there.
06:20But look, nothing deserving death has been done by him.
06:24I will therefore punish and release him.
06:29Now, we don't have a problem with the chief priests and some of those religious leaders really angry at Jesus.
06:33We understand they're jealous of him.
06:35But now the people are involved in this.
06:37Who just a week earlier, generally the people were speaking about the king of kings.
06:41The king has rode into Jerusalem and they honored him as king.
06:45And now almost a week later, they're crying out for his death.
06:48So we're surprised that the people are involved in this.
06:52The second time here, we just read in the text, he says Jesus is innocent.
06:56The first time was in verse number four.
06:58Jesus is innocent.
06:59This is the second time.
07:00He knows Jesus is innocent.
07:04See, Pilate didn't care at all about one Jewish teacher.
07:09He could care less about a Jewish teacher.
07:11At first, it seems like he did care about justice, though.
07:14He cared about justice at first.
07:16He didn't care about Jesus.
07:17Just to some Jew.
07:18I mean, being the overseer of this particular region was not a blessing that the emperor gave you.
07:26It was a curse.
07:27These people were always fighting, always writing, always getting the person in charge over them in trouble by the emperor.
07:34It was not a good gig.
07:37He didn't care about this Jewish man.
07:39But he did care about justice, it appears at first.
07:42So after the first interrogation that we'd read about in verses number one through five, or at least that we
07:48saw, he goes over to Herod.
07:50This is Herod and Tippus.
07:51This is the son of Herod the Great.
07:54If you remember Herod the Great, that's the man who tried to kill the baby Jesus when he was born.
07:58All children two years and older in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas.
08:01The family goes off to Egypt.
08:03That's Herod the Great.
08:04That's his dad.
08:05And this Herod and Tippus, he married his brother's wife, actually got her to divorce his brother, and he married
08:11his brother's wife.
08:12And John the Baptist said, uh-uh, that's not good.
08:14You're not allowed to have your brother's wife.
08:16And of course, you know the story.
08:18He arrested John the Baptist and eventually lops off his head at the story.
08:22This is that Herod right here that we're talking about.
08:26His dad is a murderer of all the children in the Bethlehem area.
08:30Jesus called him that fox, Herod and Tippus.
08:34Herod could care less about who Jesus really was.
08:38He could care less.
08:39He just wanted Jesus to do some miracle.
08:41He's like, put a show on for me, Jesus.
08:44Come on, clap like the clapping seal.
08:46Come on, show me a miracle.
08:47And Jesus does nothing, and he's, ah, fuck, get him out of here.
08:50He doesn't care.
08:50He doesn't care about this guy.
08:52He just wanted to show when Jesus was there.
08:56So Pilate clearly wants to release Jesus.
08:59You can hear it.
09:01You can read it in the text.
09:02He knows he's innocent.
09:04He clearly wants to release him.
09:06He wants to let him go.
09:10Oh, and so he says, okay, listen, I will therefore punish him, and then I'll release him.
09:13Now, it wasn't this punishment was less severe than the flogging that a person got right before crucifixion.
09:19We're going to see that scourging, that flogging that comes later.
09:22This was just like we're going to beat him a little bit, and then we're going to let him go
09:25to satisfy you.
09:26Well, they didn't like that.
09:27They didn't think that was a good idea.
09:30They wanted to kill Jesus.
09:31They wanted him dead.
09:32They didn't want him just beaten a little bit.
09:33They want him dead.
09:35And they want someone else released instead of him.
09:39So look at verse number 18.
09:42But they all cried out together, away with this man and release to us Barabbas.
09:49And Luke gives us a little hint of who this man Barabbas was, a man who had been thrown into
09:55prison for an insurrection, fighting against the government.
09:59Well, that's Rome or Jewish, probably Rome.
10:01He could be a zealot.
10:02Started in the city and for murder.
10:05The guy's a murderer.
10:08Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus.
10:10But they kept shouting, crucify him, crucify him.
10:13But I'm thinking when Pilate's thinking in his head, okay, I know Jesus is innocent.
10:18Let me pick the worst guy we have in prison right now and suggest him to be released, or suggest
10:25that Jesus should be released.
10:26And he thinks there's no way they're going to select Barabbas over Jesus.
10:30He was an insurrectionist and a murderer.
10:32So he's picking the worst person they have in prison right now to compare him with Jesus so that they
10:37would clearly choose Jesus.
10:39That's not what they do.
10:41A third time he said to them, why, what evil has he done?
10:45They kept shouting, crucify him, crucify him.
10:48I have found in him no guilt deserving death.
10:53I will therefore punish and release him.
10:55The same statement he said before, I'll beat him a little bit, let him go.
10:58But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified.
11:05And their voices prevailed.
11:08So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted, even though he knew he was innocent.
11:13He knew it.
11:15He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder for whom they ask.
11:21But he delivered Jesus over to their will.
11:25To their will.
11:27So it's about 7.30 a.m.
11:30Jesus has been awake all night.
11:33Earlier, he had been beaten and mocked, Luke chapter 22.
11:37Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him.
11:43They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, prophesy.
11:47Who is it that struck you?
11:48Can you imagine?
11:49They put a blindfold around Jesus and then the guards were punching him.
11:53Okay, tell me who is it that you're a prophet.
11:56Tell me who is it that you're a prophet.
11:59And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.
12:05Here we have the God of the universe, the person who spoke all things into existence,
12:09and they're mocking and humiliating him.
12:13God himself.
12:17He was balanced back and forth.
12:19Jesus from Pilate to Herod, back to Pilate.
12:21Now standing before Pilate, Jesus tells him why he's even come into the world.
12:25Why did he even come into the world?
12:27He records that in John chapter 18.
12:30Then Pilate said to him, so you are a king.
12:33And Jesus answered, you say that I'm a king.
12:35He basically said, yes, that's true.
12:37You say that I'm a king.
12:38Now he tells us why he came into the world.
12:41Jesus does.
12:42For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, what?
12:47To bear witness to the truth.
12:50In a sense, truth is on trial here.
12:53He's come to testify what is true, what is real, what is true reality from God's point of view.
13:01He's testifying to the truth.
13:02I'm bearing witness to the truth.
13:04He is the way, the truth, and the life.
13:06He's speaking truth.
13:09And everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.
13:14Then Pilate makes that historic statement.
13:16What is truth?
13:18Now, I actually don't know how he said it.
13:20I mean, he's a political leader in Rome.
13:23I'm probably certain that he didn't see much truth in the political sphere of Rome.
13:29He saw a lot of backbiting, a lot of anger, a lot of jealousy.
13:33He didn't see a lot of truth there.
13:35So he could have said, what is truth?
13:37Or he could have said, yeah, right, there's no such thing as truth.
13:40What is truth?
13:41I don't know how he said it.
13:44Did he say, I lament the fact that I've never seen truth actually in my life.
13:48All I've seen is deceit and lying.
13:51Or is he saying, yeah, right, there's no such thing as truth.
13:55What is truth?
13:57So the people cry out, away with him, away with him.
14:00It just simply means I'm going to let him crucify him.
14:02Away with him.
14:02It's not like, take him away.
14:04We don't want to see him anymore.
14:04No, no.
14:05I want you to go kill him.
14:06Crucify him.
14:08John 19 says, they cried out, away with him, away with him.
14:12Crucify him.
14:13And Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king?
14:17Now he's talking to Jews.
14:19Who is their king?
14:21King, the Lord of Lords, the God of the hosts of heaven, the sovereign Lord who created
14:29all things.
14:30Who is their king?
14:31What did they say?
14:33Oh, we have no king but Caesar.
14:36How could they say that?
14:38How could they claim that they have no king but Caesar when God was their king?
14:42What are they saying?
14:43Oh, we don't care about God.
14:46Caesar's our king.
14:48Give us Barabbas.
14:51Barabbas simply means Bar, Abbas, son of the father, son of the father.
14:57Bar, Abbas, Abba, father, son of the father.
14:59That's what his name means.
15:00Apart from the gospels, we don't know anything about this guy.
15:03He's really insignificant.
15:05We only know about him because what happens here?
15:07He's not a significant historical person at all.
15:11And Barabbas was the very man the chief priest claimed Jesus was, a revolutionary, not a murderer.
15:16Of course, they didn't claim he was a murderer, but he incited the people.
15:19He misled the people.
15:20He was an insurrect.
15:21He was a revolutionary.
15:24The very thing that they said that Jesus was guilty of, other than murder, they didn't claim he murdered anyone.
15:31In a sense, really, Barabbas kind of represents all of us.
15:34You think about it.
15:36We were in rebellion against God.
15:41We hated people.
15:43We're told in the scriptures, if you hate someone, that's murder.
15:45We hated people.
15:47We lied.
15:48We deceived.
15:49We were in rebellion against.
15:49He's really us, Barabbas is.
15:52He really is us.
15:55And if you set him side by side, an insurrectionist and a murderer, and one that did good as he
16:00walked around,
16:02you set him side by side, and you said, really, this is a clear choice between good and evil.
16:07It's not like muddied water.
16:09We say, I can't see the difference between the two.
16:11There is a clear choice between good and evil here.
16:17They kept shouting.
16:18They kept shouting.
16:20They didn't just say it one time.
16:21They kept shouting.
16:22They kept shouting.
16:22They kept shouting.
16:23They just kept doing it over and over again, over and over again.
16:27Jesus, the one who went around doing good.
16:30But Barabbas, an insurrection and a murderer, how could you choose that murderer over one who went around and did
16:35good things?
16:36Acts 10.
16:37How God anointed Jesus of Nathers with the Holy Spirit and with power.
16:42He went about doing good, not evil, good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was
16:48with him.
16:51How could you set them side by side?
16:53One who does good and sets people's life aright, and one who murders people?
16:59How could you choose a murderer?
17:01It's good and evil.
17:04How ironically sad when you think about it.
17:07Barabbas means son of the father.
17:11Jesus is the true son of the father.
17:14The innocent, true son of the father is rejected for a guilty insurrectionist and murderer, also called son of the
17:22father.
17:22What a sad irony there.
17:26They wanted a murderer or insurrectionist in their midst?
17:29They would rather have a person like that walking in their community than one who did good?
17:36So while Pilate sits in judgment, his wife sends him a message urging him to have nothing to do with
17:42this Jesus.
17:43She's dreamed a dream.
17:46Don't have anything to do with this righteous man.
17:48It's recorded in Matthew 27.
17:52Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, have nothing to do with
17:56this righteous man.
17:59Again, we're told that there's nothing, he did nothing wrong.
18:02For I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.
18:05So even his wife is saying, a pagan, is saying, hey, I dreamed a dream.
18:09Don't, don't have anything to do.
18:11Don't, don't speak against this righteous man.
18:13Let him be.
18:15And Pilate himself declared Jesus innocent three times, three times, not just once, not just twice, but three times.
18:23I find no guilt in this man.
18:25He's not guilty of what you charged him with.
18:27I find no guilt in this man.
18:29Hear what God is trying to say to us.
18:31Jesus is innocent.
18:32Even a pagan political leader understood that.
18:37He's innocent.
18:39So Pilate at this point calls for water and he washes his hand declaring,
18:44I'm innocent of the blood of this man, recorded in Matthew 27.
18:48So when the Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning,
18:52he took water and washed his hands before the crowd saying,
18:55I am innocent of this man's blood.
18:57See to it yourselves.
19:00I know he's innocent, but the mob has persuaded me to act contrary to what I know to be true.
19:07Pilate never wants to declare Jesus guilty, but he gave into what the crowd was saying.
19:12And then we know why he did, but he gave in.
19:15They were urgent.
19:17They just kept urging him over and over again.
19:19No, release Barabbas, kill Jesus.
19:21Release Barabbas, kill Jesus.
19:22They urged him over and over again.
19:24And the chief priests are stirring up the mob and inciting the violence.
19:29Mark chapter 15.
19:30But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead.
19:35So the crowd is being stirred up by the religious leaders.
19:38You can see them getting angry and angrier, screaming at the top of their lungs, crying out,
19:44crucify him.
19:45Give us a murderer and insurrectionists instead.
19:51You know, maybe the Jews thought, well, you know, the Messiah is supposed to throw off Roman rule
19:56and start a kingdom on earth and Jesus didn't do it.
19:59So we're done with him.
20:00We're done with him.
20:01We don't want anything more to do with him.
20:02We're finished with him.
20:04That's not why he came.
20:05He didn't come at this time to rule from Jerusalem.
20:08He came to be our savior, to die on the cross.
20:12So you and I could be set free from sin, released from the prison house of God's condemnation.
20:19He came to serve and give his life a ransom.
20:22We are told that in Mark chapter 10.
20:25For even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as
20:29a ransom for many.
20:31They cried out, crucify him.
20:33And the second and third time, it's the people saying this, not the religious leaders.
20:38The people are now saying this.
20:42For the first time, he used to the people.
20:44And we have to understand, it was not even Pilate's idea to crucify Jesus.
20:48He was sitting there going, he wasn't even thinking about crucifying Jesus.
20:53He'll give him a light, beat him, and I'll let him go.
20:55It was the people's idea to crucify Jesus.
20:57It wasn't Pilate's idea.
21:01Crucifixion was reserved for the worst crimes like treason or insurrection or murder.
21:09And also reserved for foreigners, not Romans.
21:15So Pilate thought, well, crucifying one Jewish teacher, one Jewish leader is better than having a riot.
21:22Because I don't want the emperor saying anything about that.
21:25So just one Jewish teacher, who cares?
21:27I don't want a riot.
21:28So he's beginning to rationalize.
21:31Although he knows the truth, he's beginning to rationalize things.
21:35And Pilate let mob rule determine justice here.
21:39He knew he was innocent.
21:41That he let the mob convince him otherwise.
21:45The Life Application Bible has a little note here.
21:48When you have a difficult decision to make, don't discount the effects of peer pressure.
21:54Realize beforehand that the right decision could have unpleasant consequences, social rejection, career derailment, public ridicule.
22:02Then think of Pilate and resolve to stand up for what is right no matter what other people pressure you
22:08to do.
22:10He knew he was innocent.
22:13He let the crowd persuade him.
22:17It was not the voice of truth that prevailed, but rather the voice of hatred that prevailed.
22:23It wasn't the voice of truth.
22:25They hated him.
22:27They wanted him dead.
22:28You and I were thinking, you know, none of us, and I think here, would ever just stand around and
22:32say,
22:32Hey man, I think we ought to kill that person.
22:34I mean, I can't even imagine any of us even thinking that.
22:37Yet the crowd is saying, we want this man dead.
22:40And give us an insurrection and murder instead.
22:42Let him walk in our midst.
22:46Not the voice of truth, the voice of hatred.
22:50And yet, God's purposes were accomplished by their decision.
22:58Can never forget that.
23:02They were doing exactly what they wanted to do, which was evil.
23:05But God takes that evil and makes something good out of it.
23:10God is not the cause of evil.
23:12And there's plenty of evil in this world.
23:14But he's able to take that evil and move it forward in his plan, his sovereign plan for this universe.
23:20He can take the evil of man and make something good out of it.
23:26Acts 22, 23.
23:29This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.
23:35This was God's divine must.
23:38The suffering servant.
23:40But look at this.
23:43You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
23:46The divine must and human responsibility.
23:48They did exactly what they wanted, but it was the divine plan that God used their evil to carry it
23:54out.
23:57God uses the evil of people to further his plans in this world.
24:00He can take all of our pain that evil people have presented to us and weave it into a beautiful
24:06masterpiece.
24:09He can make our lives so great, even though we have been abused by evil people.
24:17Just days ago, the crowd wanted to honor Jesus.
24:19Now they want him dead.
24:21And they thought the Jewish leaders are doing it for the good of the nation.
24:23Oh, one guy, better than the nation, better one guy dies than the nation dies.
24:28We're doing it for the good of the nation.
24:31Even though Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, he still gave in to the people.
24:36And at this point in the story, Pilate has Jesus scourged.
24:42Now, if you've ever seen, I lost the name of the movie, The Passion of Christ.
24:48If you ever, every time I come to the scourging scene, even right now, I get God bumps.
24:53I can't help but cry to understand what he went through in that scourging.
25:00No need to.
25:01You can go read about it.
25:02It's a horrible thing.
25:03He should have died.
25:05Much scourging as he had, most men probably would have died.
25:09So he has delivered over Jesus to be scourged.
25:11After the scourging, robe was put back on him.
25:14He comes back before Pilate for the last time.
25:18He's back to the judgment seat.
25:21And now he's going to be delivered to the crowds.
25:24We now see what the court of public opinion looks like.
25:29Pilate has rationalized knowing that Jesus is innocent with his own reputation.
25:34And he begins leaning in the direction away from what he knows to be true to save his own skin.
25:40He's more concerned about his reputation than his character.
25:42Peter, John 19, from then on, Pilate sought to release him.
25:47But the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend.
25:52Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar's.
25:55Now he's thinking about his own, he's only thinking about his own self right now.
25:59So when the pilot heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat
26:03at a place called the stone pavement in Aramaic, Gabbatha.
26:07And I asked myself, what kind of a man would have another person executed whom he knew was innocent?
26:18What kind of man is that?
26:22Technically, we're all guilty of Jesus's death.
26:25Wasn't the Jews?
26:26Wasn't just a crowd there?
26:27Wasn't Pilate?
26:28We are all guilty of Jesus's death because he died for our sins on the cross.
26:35It was our sins that sent him there.
26:37We are guilty of Jesus's death.
26:39We, all of us, humanity.
26:42Yet here, Luke seems to point it out because he says the will of the people.
26:46He seems to point it at the Jews.
26:48Again, we're all guilty, but Luke seems to make a point.
26:51He was delivered to the will of the people.
26:55Matthew 27.
26:57And all the people answered, his blood be on us and on our children.
27:05They called it upon themselves, but they did worse than that.
27:08They called it upon their children after them.
27:13Then he released for them Barabbas, having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.
27:20Jesus is now delivered over to the will of the chief priest and the people.
27:27Again, we saw a portion of John 19.
27:30Here's more of it.
27:31Now, it was the day of preparation of the Passover.
27:34It was about the sixth hour.
27:37He said to the Jews, behold your king.
27:40He already acknowledged that he was king.
27:42Jesus did.
27:43But he says, my kingdom is not of this world.
27:45If it were my soldiers, my people would fight for it, but my kingdom is not of this world.
27:49But he is a king, and Pilate understood that.
27:54Behold your king.
27:55And they cried out, away with him, away with, crucify him.
27:59And Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king?
28:02And the chief priest answered, we have no king but Caesar.
28:07So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
28:12Jesus, the innocent, will die in the place of Barabbas, the guilty.
28:24God is delivered over to sinful men.
28:29I don't know if you've ever thought about it.
28:31Could you imagine the scene from Barnabas' point of view?
28:34I'm assuming from Barabbas' point of view.
28:38Can you imagine?
28:39He knows he's in prison for insurrection and murder.
28:43And he knows that the charge of insurrection and murder means that you will be executed by crucifixion.
28:49He knows that.
28:51He's sitting in his jail cell or some sort of confinement place where he's at.
28:55And every time he hears the outer prison door unlocked, he's wondering,
28:58are they coming now to lead me to my crucifixion?
29:04He hears the outer door open and he hears the soldier's feet walking on the pavement towards him.
29:10I don't know if he hung his head and said, it's time.
29:12Or I don't know if he was defiant and said, I'll show you.
29:15I don't know.
29:17But he's thinking, this is it.
29:23It's done.
29:25I'm going to die.
29:27I've committed crimes worthy of death.
29:29I'm going to die.
29:31I'm going to die.
29:32I pay for it with my life.
29:36Soldier approaches, unlocks his cell door, looks at him and says, you're free to go.
29:44What?
29:46Wait.
29:49Is this a mistake?
29:51Are you playing some cruel trick where you're going to say, ah, no, just kidding.
29:55Come on.
29:55I'm going to crucify you.
29:56What do you, what do you mean?
29:57I'm free to go.
30:02Are they kind of getting my hopes up just to destroy them with some nasty, sadistic humor?
30:08No, you're truly free to go.
30:11I don't know.
30:13Bible doesn't say.
30:14But it's likely, he said, why?
30:19Why?
30:22He is told that someone else is taking his place.
30:27Who?
30:29Jesus is taking your place.
30:33Jesus will die instead of you.
30:38Was he thankful?
30:40Maybe.
30:41I don't know.
30:43I would think, yes.
30:44He's not going to die that someone else is taking his place.
30:47He knew he should die.
30:49Yet someone is going to die for him.
30:57That really is the good news, isn't it?
31:01We who are dead in our trespasses and sin, someone came and died for us.
31:08Took our place.
31:10And our prison door was open and we were released and we were set free.
31:14Why?
31:14Because somebody took our place.
31:19That is the good news.
31:23Let me speak to you, friend, today.
31:25If you do not know Jesus, I want you to know that he took your place on the cross.
31:29You should die for your sins before a holy God.
31:33I should die for my sins before a holy God.
31:35Yet someone took my place.
31:39My penalty was placed on him.
31:44You today, if you're not in Christ, you stand condemned,
31:48locked in the jailhouse of God's condemnation.
31:52And I say to you, repent and believe the gospel.
31:56Believe that someone took your place.
31:58It's not what you do for God, but what God has done for you.
32:05Believer, let me ask you,
32:07have we lost our gratitude for what Jesus did on the cross?
32:14I mean, we hear the story every year.
32:16We read through our Bible and our devotion time.
32:18Oh yeah, he died on the cross.
32:19That's terrible.
32:20It was horrible.
32:21It was painful.
32:21Oh yeah, I know that.
32:23But have we lost our gratitude?
32:26To say, thank you, God.
32:28I stood condemned and yet now you have released me by the blood of your son.
32:32I am so thankful to you, God.
32:35Have we lost our gratitude?
32:38Have we forgotten the extreme depth of the condemnation that we were under
32:43and the forgiveness of sins we experienced at salvation?
32:50A couple of things here.
32:51One super obvious, super obvious from the text today is this.
32:56Do not let anyone persuade you from the truth.
33:01Stand firm in the truth.
33:04Don't care what the mob says.
33:05I don't care what society says.
33:07I don't care what X says, Instagram, Facebook.
33:10I don't care.
33:12I know what the truth is and I'm going to stand for the truth.
33:15I'm going to live the truth in my life.
33:18And the second one is this.
33:20May your gratitude believer for Jesus who took your place,
33:24create in you a commitment of utmost loyalty to him.
33:29He deserves our all for what he did for us.
33:35Let's pray.
33:36Father, thank you.
33:38We are moved once again when we come to this passion.
33:44We see ourselves in Barabbas condemned.
33:50And we see the good news of the gospel that somebody took his place.
33:56And that really is the good news.
33:59We that condemned the guilty ones,
34:02the innocent one, Jesus died for us, Father.
34:07That we could be set free.
34:09The prison door of your condemnation has been opened.
34:13And we stand now no longer under your condemnation,
34:16but we stand in your love.
34:19And you will never separate us from your love now.
34:24May our hearts be so full of gratitude day in and day out
34:28that we will give everything for you, Jesus.
34:32Thank you, Jesus, for what you did.
34:34We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
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