Good morning. If you'd like,
you can turn to Mark chapter 15 this morning. Growing up, it was my grandparents
had a very influential part of my childhood. I'm sure some of
you have the same experience. And I would have loved for Stacia
and my kids to know them as I did. And I've tried to tell them some
things about my grandparents, try to let them know who they
were. But words fail. I'm just inadequate
to let them know who those people were that I knew while I was
growing up. Don't you find that to be the
case? You go to tell somebody about a person you love, and
your words just fail. You can't express what your heart
desires to tell. There's so much that you can
tell about those that you loved that just doesn't come out. As I struggled over the last
few days to find a message that I felt led to bring this morning,
there was one thing that kept occurring to me over and over
again. When we stand in this pulpit, when a pastor or a teacher
stands in the pulpit, there's more than just facts being given. They are trying to express to
you why they love the Lord. They want you to know Him, and
if you know Him, you'll love Him. I want those that hear this message
to love the Lord Jesus Christ. Where to start? That's the great trouble I had.
Do I start with the sovereign creator who spoke the world into
being, who gives life and breath to us all? who by the word of his power
upholds all things. Or do I speak of his glory as
the only begotten son of God, the express image of God the
Father, the one in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily? Then there's the greatness of
his love to us, the love of a father to his children. The fact that
he adopted us, that he provides for us as a husband does to the
bride of his youth. I think you can understand. I was simply overwhelmed at his
greatness. As I was going through all of
this, my attention was drawn to Barabbas in a light that I'd
never considered him before. I realized in considering who
our Lord Jesus Christ is that it is when I see him who loved
me and gave himself for me that I love him most. The account
of Barabbas is very brief. being exceedingly generous with
the number of verses that he's referenced in, it's less than
30 verses. But as we know, every word of
scripture is precious. And how much the more when an
account is recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. When you study our Lord's crucifixion,
you have to read of Barabbas. Mark records the most detail
about Barabbas. So if you'll join me now, we'll
read the first 15 verses. Mark 15, verse one. And straightway in the morning,
the chief priest held a consultation with the elders and scribes and
the whole council. and bound Jesus and carried him
away and delivered him to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, art thou
the king of the Jews? And he answering said unto him,
thou sayest it. And the chief priest accused
him of many things, but he answered them nothing. But he answered
nothing, excuse me. And Pilate asked him again saying,
Answerest thou nothing? Behold how many things they witness
against thee." But Jesus yet answered nothing, so that Pilate
marveled. Now at that feast he released
unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired. But there was one
named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection
with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the
multitude, crying aloud, began to desire him to do as he had
ever done unto them. But Pilate answered them, saying,
Will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews? For he
knew that the chief priest had delivered him for envy. But the
chief priest moved the people, that he should rather release
Barabbas unto them. And Pilate answered and said
again unto them, what will ye that I shall do unto him whom
ye call the king of the Jews? And they cried out again, crucify
him. Then Pilate said unto them, why,
what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly,
Crucify him. And so Pilate, willing to content
the people, released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus,
when he had scourged him, to be crucified. More so than ever before, I found
myself relating to Barabbas and his condition in this account.
Not long before these events, Barabbas had been a free man.
He had come and gone as he pleased. He had a job and family cares
to attend to. He had friends and neighbors
that he gathered with. In short, he was a man living
out his life. He lived under the Jewish and
Roman laws. with no concern, for he had kept
those laws. Does Barabbas begin to remind
you of another man? Our father Adam once stood before
the law of God, perfect, upright, free of guilt, free of condemnation, free of the judgment of death.
The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7, 9, I was alive without the
law once, meaning I was once living in a state that I was
guiltless before God's law, as far as I was concerned. Does
Barabbas in his free estate remind you of yourself? I see myself
in him. Like my father Adam before me,
like Paul, like Barabbas, I justified myself before God's law. Did
I keep it perfectly? Of course not. But I counted
the just and holy God to judge his laws after the same manner
of unjust men that judge our own laws. I did the best I could. That's good enough for anybody,
right? Paul continued in Romans 7, 9, I was alive without the
law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. For Barabbas, a day came when
his nature, that rebellious, riotous, murderous nature, was
manifest, and he was allowed to perform what was in his heart.
Having done so, the law he had freely lived under bound him,
and he was cast into the prison cell. How heavy the weight of his guilt
hung upon him. He felt the fear and dread of
his guilt, having been found guilty He faces only one future—death. Is it so for you as it is for
me? One day I was going about having
no concern for God or for His law. But then the Holy Spirit
brought to light in me that I had sinned against God. I, not another, had raised my
hands in rebellion against him, and I had slain the Son of God. I was guilty. I was, and had
always been, without knowing it, bound and in prison. And the only possible future
for me was death. Now let's suppose that in that
dark prison cell, Barabbas can hear a large crowd has gathered. He's not aware of what's going
on outside of his little dominion, in his little prison cell. But
he can hear that a crowd has gathered. He doesn't know why. And he's not terribly concerned
about it. be truthful, doesn't matter to
him. He hears noise. He knows that
they're there. And at one point, he clearly
hears Barabbas. That's his name. The crowd has
called out his name. gets his attention. There's more
going on. He hears the noise. He's more
attentive, but he can't figure out what's going on. And then
he clearly hears, crucify him, crucify him. And his heart sinks. He knows he's guilty. He knows
he's going to die. But that death, oh, not that
death, anything but crucifixion. When the commandment comes to
God's elect sinner, when our eyes are opened and we see our
nature, that we are rebels against the holy God, and we have murdered
the son of his love, We find ourselves condemned and guilty
of the death we deserve. We hear the cries of the law
and justice who demand our death and eternal separation from God. Our hearts fail within us. We
find we have no strength, no plea, no hope. We know we're going to die. The
natural death, we know it's coming. But then we find out that we
are guilty of the second death, and we will never see the Lord
God. And it's a just death. We deserve
it. Unbeknownst to Barabbas in his
little cell, there is another man standing before the crowd,
before the judge, and before the ruler. He stood guiltless
before the law. No man could lay anything, any
charge to his account. Yet it is because of his presence
that the crowd called out Barabbas' name. Because of his presence,
the crowd called, Release Barabbas. And it was to this man that they
cried out to crucify. The Roman law, having prepared
for, and I'm certain having publicized and promised, that on this day,
three were to be crucified. It's satisfied. We promised three,
we'll put up three. In his cell, knowing the death
that he deserved, being confident that he has heard the crowd demand
his crucifixion, Barabbas hears the steps of the
guards coming. He hears the key enter into the
door, and the bolt is open. The guard goes in, lifts him
up, and removes his bonds. Then the guard says to Barabbas
and all around him, by order of the most excellent Roman emperor
and his governor, Pontius Pilate, Barabbas, you are hereby free. In a stupor of uncertainty, of
disbelief, his own disbelief, not to mention his fellow prisoners,
for he was bound with them that had made insurrection with him,
The law leads him forth from his cell. As they approach the outer walls
of the judgment hall, Barabbas is finally able to say, how can
this be? The law, the rulers, the crowd,
they all cried out for my execution. How? can I be free? And the guard turns and he points
to the man and he says, he took your place. Before God spoke the world into
being, before my fathers rose in open rebellion, Before I joined
them in the fight, God looked upon me, a polluted, bloody murderer
in love. He saw me for who and what I
am, a vile, dead, wretched sinner, and yet he chose me to be one
that he set his love upon. As I am nothing but sin, I cannot
approach and I cannot commune with him. As he is holy, he cannot
approach and commune with me. So God the Father gave me to
God the Son. Seeing my plight, loving his
Father, he took my place. He took me into his bosom as
he kept the law, I kept the law. My sin, my shame, my curse, he
owned it as his own. When Christ Jesus went to the
cross, the wrath of God was poured out on his sins. None of which he committed. It
was mine. My rebellion, my unbelief, my
pride, my rejection of him. But he owned it as his own. He took my death so that he could
grant unto me eternal life in himself. Being in his bosom, when he died,
I died. And when he rose from the grave,
for the grave could not hold him, there was no sin. He had put it all away under
his blood. When he rose from the grave,
I rose with him. When Christ is revealed to the
elect sinner, When we are made to know it is because of him
we are set free. Do we not follow him to the cross,
to Calvary's tree? Do we not gaze upon him in wonder
and adoration as we see him there dying for such rebels as we are,
as I am? When I was bound and condemned
by the law, deserving nothing but his wrath and death, he looked
upon me in love, came to where I was, he took my place, suffered
and died the curse that I deserved, and he gave me eternal life in
him. Can you see why I love him? Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory,
had mercy on this poor sinner. And I know because I know him. He is willing and able to save
all who come before him seeking his salvation. Are you condemned? Is the justice and wrath of God
against you? Cry out to mercy. Go to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He came into the world to save
sinners. Turn over to Galatians chapter
2. I have one final thought concerning
Barabbas. Do you suppose that he feared
the Roman law after he was released? Do you suppose that there were
times that the law plagued him and he feared he may be taken
again and condemned? I imagine he did. And I know that from time to
time it's so with me. Sometimes the law threatens my
conscience. I don't keep it like I should.
I don't keep it like I desire to. I don't honor the Lord my
God who gave himself for me like I should. I can't. And the fearful thought that
I don't serve God as I should wells up in my heart. Oh, the
doubts and fears that our sinful nature causes us to strive over. But I have found those all to
be good. They're good for me when these
doubts and fears arise, when my conscience plagues me, when
I fear the law may come after me again, because eventually,
sometimes longer than others, eventually, I'm always led to
flee back to the cross, to look upon the one I love,
who cried from the cross, it is finished. And there, looking once more
upon him, my guilty soul finds rest in Christ alone who took
my place. As Paul says it so much more
succinctly and simply here in Galatians 2 verse 20, I am crucified with Christ Nevertheless,
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. May the Lord be pleased
to reveal himself to us today, that we may know him and if we
know him.