Let's be turning to Matthew 27. Let's have you turn there. Matthew 27. I just wanted to make it, I've
said this before and I wanted to say it again, but I wanted
to say it from the pulpit. If anyone has any questions or
concerns about if they want something to read, if y'all need a new
Bible, I've talked to a couple of y'all about getting new Bibles.
I got some I can let you borrow. See if you like it. Or if you
have any questions about books to be reading and stuff and your
free time to read I'll be glad to speak with you I've actually
gave out a couple books for some people. I think pretty good fit
I thought you know that they'll be I think they'd like Oh feel
pot and that turned out pretty good for him didn't it? Lord's
blessed it I'll be glad to do those things. I wouldn't if y'all
want to work out advice. Don't ask me ask brother Andre
Right? He's got them big old muscles.
And so if you got some books you want some questions about,
come ask me. I'll be glad. I'll scan my lane,
as we said, in the military. And I'll be glad to speak with
you about that, or Bibles, or whatever. But I'll give you some
good biblical references on those things. Be good for you. The
title of my message really doesn't have much to do. I don't have
any comment on that, but it's just what stuck out to me. Two
11th hours. Mankind's so hung up. Most people
are justified by death. They're heathens. They hate God. They preach a false gospel and
spread horrible things and divide the church. And the second they
die, everybody thinks they're just wonderful. Well, they're
in a better place now. It's rare that the Lord does that. He has
recorded it for that thief on the cross that we don't despair.
We can have hope until someone stops breathing. The Lord may
be pleased to save him in that 11th hour. And I want us to look
at two separate 11th hours tonight. Pilate, this was the last time,
he has the Almighty God of creation of heaven and earth right in
front of him he's talking to. And he has real good sound wisdom
from his wife. And he doesn't even pay attention,
doesn't even acknowledge she spoke to him. He ignores the
woman that has some wisdom in his life. And then he washes his hands.
The Lord didn't wash his hands. The Lord didn't wash Pilate.
Pilate washed his own hands. What a terrible thing. Bar Abbas, a prisoner, renowned. We'll go through looking at all
the things that he is. The scripture says he is. It was in his 11th
hour. He hears the crowds chanting. Can't hear one man speak, but
he could hear all the multitudes, Barabbas, Barabbas, crucified. Then he hears somebody walking
down the hallway. Then he hears the keys jangling. Then he hears
the door open. And then he hears, the king of
the Jews has took your place. You are free, you live. I hope the Lord speaks that to
somebody tonight. The means that the Lord uses. The king's heart
is in his hand. Is that what the scriptures say?
The means the Lord's going to use to turn that, he's going
to do it, but we're going to inquire of him. Did you know
that? Paul told Timothy, it's going
to be us by us praying for our leaders. Does that make you feel
like a pilot or does that make you feel like a Barabbas? How
good have I done? We've met two of them recently,
haven't we? One of them, one of our leaders was in this parking
lot right there, right outside that door on a Sunday morning. Paul told Timothy, he said, I
exhort thee, I exhort therefore that first of all, supplication,
prayers, intercession, and giving of thanks be made for all men. He said, for kings. and for all
that are in authority. Why? Why should I pray for Mr. Anderson, our county supervisor? Why should I pray for Mr. Issa,
our representative? Why should I pray for Gavin Newsom? Why should I pray for Joe Biden?
I want to make this, I don't want this being vague. I want
you to get what I'm saying. I didn't vote for that people.
I didn't vote for that. It don't matter if you voted for them. God voted
for them. He put them there. Now pray for them. Why? That we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. You want to live
a peaceful life? Pray for those that despitefully
use you. He said, for, because this is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. I trust that
there were some of the Lord's people that day praying for their
governor Pilate. I wonder if the Lord had some
people there, some of our brethren, too ashamed to go up and too
cowardly to go defend our Lord. He had to tread that winepress
along, but I thought, I wonder if they was out there in the
crowd. I want to be with Pilate today. Be with that false chief
priest that's up there talking to him. Control their hearts
as you promised you will. That we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life in godliness and honesty. He goes on to tell Timothy,
he said, who will have, speaking of the Lord, will have all men
to be saved and to come into the knowledge of the truth. Now
here's the context, Paul is saying, pray for your leaders. Pray for
those, A-double-L, all of them in authority. Pray for them.
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men,
the man, Christ Jesus. That's why, for Christ's sake,
for his glory, Isn't that something? Doesn't that make you want to
pray for them? I want to look here at Pilate tonight a little
bit. The king of the Jews, the king of kings, our Redeemer,
our Lord and our God, and Bar-Abbas, a robber, a seditious man. He
was convicted of seditious conspiracy. You heard that lately? I hope
modern news perks your interest to read some old news, some old
good news, and get your mind out of the gutter and concern
the things of this world and Satan's toys in front of your
face and look to your Redeemer. Do you some good. Do me some
good. I want to be like Eliezer. I thought of Eliezer and Rebecca. He went and got her, and Abraham
turned his house over to Eliezer lock, stock, and barrel and said,
take it all. And he went and said, go find my son a wife.
And he went and he found Rebecca and he brought her back. And
before she made it back, she was already in love. She was
in love with Isaac. What did he tell her? Did he
tell her the exact same thing? And this is the rudimentary things
we have to touch on. We have to extract this out of
the story every single time. He just talked to her about somebody
he knew. You can't talk about somebody
you don't know. And she didn't know him. And so Eleazar just
told Rebecca what he knew about Isaac. There was some serious
things about his character, about who he was, about what he did.
And there might've been some common things, too. He's a real
good soccer player. He loves to go fishing. Well,
she doesn't need to know that. If she's in love with him, she
does. Wouldn't she rejoice in hearing that? I so encouraged
one of my brothers got up today and he said, I'm going to do
what Paul told Timothy. He said, preach the word. So
we're going to look at the word and I'm going to tell you a little
bit about it. And if the Lord's pleased, he'll bless it. That's
what I'm commanded to do. There's three characters in this.
I don't like using that term, but that's what the terms that
we use. There's three people of concern in this passage of
scripture we're going to look at. There's Pilate, the governor.
He's the one that's gonna be judging and ruling this thing
for a little bit on the outside. There's the king of the Jews,
the king of kings, the one that will be the substitute, the only
substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's Bar-Abbas, a robber,
a seditious man, a murderer. We looked at it last week here
in John 18, we just read it. But Pilate saith unto him, in
John 18, what is truth? And when he had said this, he
went out again to the Jews and saith unto them, I find no fault
at all, but you have a custom that I should release unto you
one at the Passover. I don't believe what y'all do,
but I know you like playing church and you just can't make it if
you don't have your routine, what's been handed down from
your father. So I'll entertain you. He was a pretty good governor,
wasn't he? Looking out for the people that was not like him.
And he said, will ye therefore that I release unto you the king
of the Jews? Then they all again saying, they cried, not this
man, but Bar-Abbas. Now Bar-Abbas was a robber. John
says Bar-Abbas was a robber. We read this account of Pilate
in all four Gospels, there in John 18 and Mark 15 and Luke
23. We'll touch on that just a bit
tonight. But here in Matthew 27, do you have Matthew 27? Look
here in verse one. When the morning was come, Matthew
27, one, when the morning was come, all the chief priests and
elders of the people, who was this? All the chief priests,
them wise old elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to
put him to death. And when they had bound him,
they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. It goes on there, Matthew, Judas
hangs himself and those squeaky clean priests, they couldn't
waste the money. Oh, that money hit the ground. Now we can't
put that in a church, but we ought to be good stewards of
money. And they went and bought a patch of land to bury strangers
so he could tell people about it. But down in verse 11, Matthew
27, 11, Jesus stood before the governor I'm not Pilate. And the governor
asked him, saying, Art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said
unto him, Thou sayest. And when he was accused of the
chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. He answered
nothing. Pilate's watching this. I've
said this a lot. I hope somebody take heed to
it sometime. My son out here, he can attest to it. I can read
a room. I've met more than 15 people
in my life. I've met a lot of people. I can read a room. I know if I got people's attention.
I know if I don't got people's attention. I know if people are
sleeping. I know if people are awake. I know if they're crying
or if they're distracted. I can read a room. I can tell a good
portion of the time if somebody's lying to me. You can too, can't
you? Somebody tell you something and
you go, eh, I don't think they're telling the truth. I think you're
lying to me. if someone's trying to persuade
me or have me perceive their point. I know what they're doing. You think I'm a fool? Someone's been itching lately
to get information out of me. They're trying their best to
get me to answer a question that they won't ask the question to,
and I tap dance around the question, because it's fun for me. I shouldn't
be that way. I ought not do that. But I do. It's like dealing with
small children. I know exactly what's going on.
Just come out and say it. You want to ask, ask. Shoot your
shot. I don't care. I just like making people squirm.
Try teaching them a lesson. Teach them to speak plainly.
If I know these things, and you know these things, when someone's
just blowing smoke, or there's the situation, I guess situation's
fishy. We used to call it our spotty
sense. When your spotty sense goes off, if I know that and
you know that, so could this man who's attained the position
of governor. You think Pilate's a dummy? You
think he got where he's at by being a dummy, by being a fool? He didn't know it. He's going
to encourage the Lamb of God to pop up, to sound off. He's going to tell that Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world to defend himself a
little. And then Pilate could turn his
back to it and turn him back over to the Jews. And he would
say, well, he defended himself. You said this, he says that.
There's no proof. It ain't what you know, it's
what you can prove. So now it's 100% he said, she said, or they
said, he said. And it's a mistrial. I don't
have to deal with it. I'm going to go back to bed.
He wasn't an idiot. Look here in verse 13. Then said
Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witnessed
against thee? They keep talking. Matthew 27,
13. You got it? We'll read it again. Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest
thou not how many things they witnessed against thee? You know
what he's telling him? Defend yourself and walk free. Don't you hear what they're saying?
Say something back and go. I'm gonna go back to bed. Y'all
bother me. They bring me somebody about
once a month and it drives me nuts. I wish they'd leave me
alone. Verse 14. And he answered him
to never a word. He didn't speak a word. I thought
Isaiah 53, didn't you? And that's absolutely amazing
to me. That's absolutely amazing to
me. If I'm wrong, I'll keep my mouth
shut. I'll be shut up to sin. Lord shut me up to sin. I know
how to do that. But when somebody accuses me of something I did
not do, or accuses me of doing something, or not doing something
I did do, I'm gonna make your ears ring. I'm gonna get loud. Absolutely not. Lord's our defender. I have trouble with that. I do,
I struggle. Turn over to first Peter chapter two. First Peter
chapter two. It's precious that Peter's the
one that tells us this. 1 Peter 2. Verse 19. 1 Peter 2.19. For this is thankworthy, if a
man, for conscience towards God, endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when
ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? Well,
I was wrong and I fessed up too. Y'all too. You want glory in
that? You was wrong. And finally somebody
said, I'm sorry, I was wrong. Yeah, good. You're supposed to
be. But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God. Go out, boys get in that boat,
row to the other side of that sea. And they go out there and
they row, and they row, and they row, and the waves toss, and
they're scared to death. And they said, Lord, you gonna
drown us? We're doing exactly what you taught us to do. And
now you're bellyaching about it. Just take it. It's all right. The Lord sent
me here. If he's gonna drown me, good, I'll go be with him.
That's acceptable to God. Not whenever you've done wrong,
you take it on the chin. Whenever you do right, and it
ain't going the way I want it to go. Be patient. Be patient. That's what our Lord's
doing. That's required of you. He did it for you. Don't that
make you want to do it? You don't have to do it. You
don't have to be patient. Well, good. I want to be patient now. You
don't have to pray for your enemies. Our Lord did. Okay, now I want
to pray for my enemies. Now you can. That's called liberty. Liberty. I ain't drinking a beer
on Wednesday, you could always do that. Now you can pray for
your enemies. Now you can serve God. Did you know that? Verse 21. This is why he was
called, part of it. Because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps.
who did no sin. Neither was guile found in his
mouth, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. Don't you
hear what they're saying about you? Defend yourself. Didn't
say a word. He reviled not again. When he
suffered, he threatened not. They whipped him and scourged
him. He didn't say, you wait till I get off this cross. Let
me tell you about judgment. Didn't say a word, did he? But
committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Oh, if I
could do that. who his own self bare our sins
in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For
ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the
shepherd and bishop of your souls." Looking unto him, looking unto
him. Now back to Matthew 27. Matthew 27, we'll look at verse
13. Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest
thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he
answered him to never a word, insomuch that the governor marveled
greatly. This was just so precious. Do
you know what Pilate was marveling at? Like I said, have we established
he's not a fool? He's not a bumbling idiot. You
ain't a bumbling idiot. If you got enough sense to see
the situation, he did too. He marveled in so much that the
governor, not that he, that the governor, Lord's showing us his
position that he put him in. In so much that the governor
marveled greatly. What did Pilate marvel greatly
at? Do you see it? Do you see it? Christ is doing this willingly. He can speak. He can speak. He ain't a mute. Now something's wrong with somebody
that don't talk like that, right? Hi, how are you doing? And they don't
talk. Ooh, ooh, okay, sorry. Something's wrong. He knew he
wasn't a mute, didn't he? He knew our master was able to
speak. Sit up in verse 11, thou sayest. He has the capacity to
speak. But when led to the slaughter,
he opened not his mouth. Marvelous. You marvel at that? He set this whole thing up that
way Pilate knew knew that he could speak. And he said, right
now, speak and I'll let you go. And he opened his mouth and he
marveled greatly. He's here of his own accord. I don't think
him handcuffs do anything. What do you think went through
his head? Who are we dealing with? I don't think there's some
common criminals them people didn't like. He's starting to
reveal himself a little bit, isn't he? He's coming around. Marvelous. I'm not able to do
that. I'm not able to. She's laughing.
She knows it's true. He is. And she's smiling because
she knows it's true. He's able. He's able. Marvelous. He marveled in a different way.
I'm marveling. I'm marveling because of what my Lord is able
to do. Who he is. This is him fulfilling the scriptures
and making you who believe and me the righteousness of God in
himself. This is a marvelous evening. It is. Verse 15, Matthew 27, 15. Now at that feast, the governor
was wont, he was used to, it was his custom, to release unto
the people a prisoner whom they would, whichever one they picked.
And they had then a notable prisoner called Bar Abbas, a notable prisoner. This wasn't just, ah, there's
some guy back there, we don't know who he is. No, this was a remarkable,
that's what the word means, a remarkable prisoner. This is one that people
had remarks about. Not unremarkable, he was remarkable.
He was a known heathen. He was a famous criminal. John
said, back in John 18, that this man was a robber. Matthew tells
us here he's a notable prisoner. Over Mark, we read this one named
Bar-Abbas, which lay bound with them that he had made insurrection
with, who had committed murder in the insurrection. He framed
a mutiny, a sedition, a seditious conspiracy, and he killed some
people what time he was doing it. He was fighting the governor.
What'd our Lord say? He goes, if this was my kingdom,
my people would fight. My kingdom's not of this world.
This man was worldly. He was out there going against
them mean old politicians. And he killed somebody. He was
a murderer. Turn over to Luke 23. Luke 23. We see Pilate trying to do what
he thought was right or good or whatever he thought wouldn't
cause as many waves. And now we see Barabbas. Barabbas. I hope I remember to tell you
this at the end. If you go down the street and you say, we don't,
you want the king of the Jews, do you want Jesus or do you want
that criminal? Everybody would say Barabbas. Would you say Barabbas? I've said Barabbas my whole life.
Most people do. Barabbas. Hits Bar or Abbas.
Do you know why? Bar, Simon, Bar or Jonah, your
son, Abba, father. That's the son of the father.
His daddy named him son of the father. He's just like his daddy,
Adam. Just like his daddy, Adam. Just
like me. Just like you. Just like everybody
born a man. Bar Abbas, son of their father. Spitting image,
isn't he? Luke 23. Page off. Luke 23, verse 18. And they cried out all at once,
saying, away with this man, and release unto us Bar-Abbas. And
it says, who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder,
was cast into prison. John says he's a robber. And
now here it says he's a certain sedition made in the city, he's
an insurrectionist, and for murder, he's a murderer. The whole mob
of people that sent me this week too, I started thinking about
who my children are around. The whole mob of people said, we
don't want that man that was healing folks. We don't want
that man that was committing miracles or performing miracles
and feeding everybody, giving people sight, making a lane walk.
We want a hardened criminal to be living in our town with our
children. Does that make good sense to you? You know what you'd
have done if you were standing there? God took his hand off
of you? You'd have said, give us Barabbas. Me too. I would too. But it says who
forced certain sedition made in a city. Sedition. That word
means to conduct or conduct or speech inciting people to rebel
against a state or a monarch. Seditious conspiracy. Practically. We're not here to fight politics,
we're not here to fight the government, we're not here to go against
local officials and ordinances and all those things. That's
pretty plain, isn't it? Paul told us in Romans 13, this
will be important later too. Romans 13 says, let every soul
be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of
God. If somebody has power, God gave
it to them. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever
therefore resisteth the power, the ones that go against it,
resisteth the ordinance of God. You're not resisting that one
that's in the office, you're resisting the one that put him
in office. You're fighting God on that. And they that resist
shall receive in themselves damnation. Pray for them that despitefully
use us. That's what our Lord tells us. Especially those government
officials. That's what I started out with in 1 Timothy 2. That
we may lead peaceful lives unto our Lord and serve Him and worship
Him. That's physically what it's talking
about. But spiritually, here's the true guilt. I've heard people
preach this. I've heard people teach it one
to another. I've heard people encourage others
either towards a false gospel to sit under it, or listen to
it, or hear these things, or away from the true gospel. And
it's terrible. Away from the king. That's a
seditious conspiracy against the monarch. The monarch, isn't
it? Paul goes on in Romans 16. He said, Now I beseech you, brethren,
mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the
doctrine which you've learned, and avoid them. They're going
against the king. Mark them and avoid them. Just
leave them alone. Warn them if you can. Leave them alone. For
they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their
own bellies. They just want people to follow
them, come get advice from them. That's what they ought to read
every week. That's what they want. And by good words and fair
speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. That's called wolves going after
sheep. I want to be a sheep dog. what I want. Ought not. Lord,
I won't call down fire and brimstone on him like the sons of thunder."
And the Lord said, you don't know what spirit is in you. He's a seditious man. A robber.
Bar Abbas. He's a robber. What kind of robber
was he? What'd he steal? Well, I didn't
steal what he stole. I only stole watches. He stole a car. No,
that's ain't what it's talking about. It says in Malachi 3,
will a man rob God? Will you? You gonna rob God?
He said, yeah, you have robbed me. You robbed me. But you say, where have we robbed
thee? We haven't robbed God. In tithes and offerings. He ain't just talking about money.
He ain't talking about some 10%. That's ridiculous. Tithes and
offerings. You've robbed me in Thanksgiving. What's 10%? The Lord, that's what offering
is. The Lord gave me 100% and he's so generous. In the law,
the law is so gracious, he lets me keep 90%. Who's a God like
that God? Providing for his work, there's
11 tribes that don't, that ain't Levi, that's 110%. Abundance,
isn't it? Abundance. Do we thank him for that? Does that make us more generous?
He said, you robbed me. You robbed me. You are cursed
with a curse for you have robbed me, even this whole nation, everybody. Well, there's probably some people
that's thanked him. Some people gave to the church,
support the work, keep beating his house. Now, the whole nation's
robbed God of his power. You ever tried robbing God of
his power? Well, now, I don't want that to happen. That's your
will. You ever robbed God of his will?
Well, it's either your way or his way. Father, thy will be done. That's
what we're taught to pray, isn't it? What about glory? I found the doctrines of grace,
or I picked this, or I found the right church, and I found
that. I've heard the Lord's people around the world, ain't we? They
say, I was wrong and God found me. Big difference. Big difference. Big difference
between pilot marveling and you marveling. That's a big difference.
I found God, I let him in, I heard a lot, I leaned on my faith.
You told it true, you told the truth, that's your faith. That's
your faith. I leaned on my God, who is faithful. Big difference, isn't it? I watched
the thing about the Mormon church. I grew up with a bunch of them,
know a lot about it. And buddy, everything they had, all them
bullet points, they weren't lying. They told the truth. They said,
the church allows this. No matter what you allow. They
said, the church did this. Yeah, that's right. We follow
the teachings of Mr. So-and-so. You spoke right. You're following his teachings.
The church baptizes many people. Exactly. You ain't lying. Robin
God of his glory. Bar Abbas, just like his daddy.
What did Adam say? It's your fault. You gave me
her. A murderer. A murderer. Said somebody died. Was it a
manslaughter? Why would you get wrapped around the wheels on
that? We're all murderers, ain't we? Our Lord said in Matthew
15, But those things which proceed out of the mouth cometh forth
from the heart. That's what defiles somebody.
It ain't this squeaky clean outward image of do and don't, and eat
and don't eat. I don't drink anything. I don't
smoke. I don't chew. I don't read. There's things
I ought not read. Don't watch things on TV I ought
not watch. That ain't it. It's the heart that's the problem.
Heart defiles a man. For out of the heart proceeds
evil thoughts of murderers, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses,
blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man. But to eat with unwashed hands defiles a man. Don't wash
your hands, fine. It don't matter. God's a God of germs. He gets
sick, if you get sick, he did it. It's of the Lord, isn't it? All those things, people don't
murder and then they become a murderer. They murder because they're a
murderer. That sounds simple, but if we don't get that, if
we're wrong on the fall, we're wrong on it all. You ain't got a good
handle on it. Pray God work in you. That's what, I think I quote
it every time, but Peter preached there in Acts 2, him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have
taken. and by wicked hands have crucified
and slain. Are you a murderer? I thought
about this last week. You ever been arrested? If you're
in Christ, you have been. He's arrested, but I've never
went to jail. You better hope you do. You're
living your own life. You're living your own righteousness. Before we are showed our guilt,
we are friends and we are brethren with all those, and we have fellowship
with everybody in the world and anybody else but God. Before
God saved you, you might have been in church, you might have
been playing guitar all over the nation, you might have been
doing anything you wanted for Jesus, but you had fellowship
with anybody. Look up Luke 23, you still got
that? Look up verse eight. And when
Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad, for he was desirous to
see Him of a long season, because he had heard many things of Him,
and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him. Herod was
excited to see Jesus. Herod wanted to watch a party
trick. He wanted to see a magician. Then he questioned him in many
words, but he answered him nothing. And the chief priest and the
scribes stood and vehemently accused him. And Herod, with
his men of war, set him at naught and mocked him and arrayed him
in a gorgeous robe and sent him again to Pilate. And the same
day, Pilate and Herod were made friends together. for before
they were an enmity between themselves. They didn't have nothing in common
before. But now it's like, I was gonna do the same thing. You
mock him the way I mocked him. Now we can be friends. We can
be fellows in the same ship. They were friends, is that what
it says? It says now they're friends. They used to be enemies. They
didn't get along, but now they had a common cause. The Lord that requires
people to bow to him. I ain't gonna have that man reign
over me. Give me Bar Abbas. They cried it with everybody
else, didn't they? Even these Romans. Even the Romans, ain't no different,
we're the same. We're just like our father. Back to Matthew 27. Matthew 27, verse 15. Now at
that feast, the governor was wont to release unto the people
a prisoner, whom they would. And they had then a notable prisoner
called Barabbas. Therefore when they gathered
together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto
you, Barabbas, or Jesus, which is called Christ? For he knew
that for envy they had delivered him." He knew they delivered
Christ because of envy. I told you he wasn't a fool.
He had a handle on the situation. The reason they brought him was
envy. Do you remember me telling you
what that means? The difference between jealous and envy? Jealousy
is wanting what somebody else has. He has some stuff and I
want some of that same stuff. You got a fancy car, I want a
fancy car. You got a sailboat, I want a
sailboat. That's jealousy. Envy is wanting that other person
to not have what they do have. He had something they did not.
This king of the Jews, the king of king, the lord of lords, all
those are religious folks. The chief priest and the elders. Christ had something they didn't.
What did he have? Riches and fine garments and
all those things? Of course not. No. That's what
I told him. He said, they came to him. He
said, foxes have holes and the birds of the air, they got nests.
But the son of man hath not where to lay his head. What did he
have that they didn't have that they didn't want him having?
Wisdom. He is wisdom. Well, I didn't
know that. I've never seen that. What are
you talking about? Is that what that means? Is that
the context of that? He had wisdom. He had the respect of those that
followed him. He had respect to all people.
Pilate was trying to get him out of there. Didn't believe
him. Was okay with mocking him, but
at least had enough respect not to do too much to him. Honor. He had honor. He had honor from
the Father. He had true, faithful disciples
that he made faithful that could not waver. They might deny him
for a little bit, but they'll be crucified upside down, and
they'll be stoned, and they'll have their heads cut off, and
that's just fine because I'm his and he's mine. They didn't
have that. 30 pieces of silver, man, they'd
turn over and show their belly, wouldn't they? And he had favor
with God. They didn't have that. Why? He was God, and they wanted to
be. They envied him. Paul may not
have been on a list of all those things, but he said, I got a
feeling I know why y'all got him here. You don't want nothing
to do with him. You don't know how to handle
him. Verse 19. I got to preach the word, huh? Matthew
27, 19. When he was sat down in the judgment seat, his wife
sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just
man? There's one that's holy in front
of you. Don't you have nothing to do with him? For I have suffered
many things this day in a dream because of him." The Lord used
to speak through visions and those things, didn't he? Sent
Nebuchadnezzar a dream, then ended up sending Daniel the same
dream. But now in these last days, it's spoke to us by his
son, hasn't it? They sent her a dream in that
time. Pilate's wife, I don't know her
heart. I have no idea. But she gave
her husband the most sound spiritual guidance and influence that's
recorded in these scriptures that he heard. The one closest
to him, his confidant, bone of his bone, the one he's one with,
the one he's married to. She came to him and said, that
just man, you leave him alone. Don't have nothing to do with
him. Our Lord said, touch not mine anointed and do my prophets
no harm, didn't he? I don't know if she's read that,
but she was telling Pilate, his wife told her. He didn't even
acknowledge it. She's just a woman, what does
she know? He didn't acknowledge it, did
he? When the Pharisees prayed, there's three things they like
to say. Lord, I thank you, I'm not a woman. I thank you I'm
not a dog, and I thank you I'm not a gentile. That's what they
thought of women. They were much better than women, weren't they?
I will not stand for misogyny and sexism. I won't have it.
I won't stand for racism, and I won't stand for ageism. Somebody's
young and they're right, you might as well hush and listen
to them. Despise not their youth, and there's neither black nor
white, there's neither male nor female, there's neither bond
nor free. I won't put up with slavism either, if we ever come
in contact with that. I just thought of all the women,
all the women in the scriptures that the Lord preserved these
words for us to read. For us big, tough men, I think
we're something sometimes. Adam's wife Eve. Do you think
she could give you a little something on the three R's and tell you
with experience? You think she'd tell you a little
something about ruined by the fall, redeemed by the blood, regenerated by
the Holy Spirit? Rebecca, there was two nations
in her womb. There wasn't two nations in Isaac's
womb. The Lord didn't tell Isaac that. The Lord told Rebecca that.
We heard it because he told her. Jochebed, Moses' mother. She
had faith to put him in that river. Miriam, Moses' sister. Serving with him and Aaron. All
those years. Deborah. Naomi. Ruth. Hannah. We quote what Hannah
prayed. Did you know that? He put a prayer
in her in 1 Sam. It said, The Lord killeth and
maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up.
The Lord maketh poor and he maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth
up. He raiseth the poor out of the
dust. He lift the beggar from the dunghill. He set them among
princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory, for the
pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He hath set the world
upon them. He will keep the feet of His
saints." You think she's entered into some deep doctrine? Esther,
Mary, the mother of our Lord. Elizabeth, the mother of John
the Baptist. Whenever her womb was what he
was in, whenever Mary come close, he'd start kicking and wiggling.
He had the Holy Ghost from the womb. Mary and Martha. Mary chose the good part, didn't
he? But the scriptures say, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister
and Lazarus. Called her by name, Mary Magdalene. Do you like reading Romans? I've
quoted Romans a couple of times, ain't I? Romans 13. Do you think the Lord's
blessed anybody with the book of Romans since Paul wrote it?
I think he has. I don't think his words return
to him void. How come we have this? Why do we have the letter
to Rome? There was a single woman that
traveled 740 miles in dangerous times in a risky area of the
world with the only copy of the handwritten epistle on this earth.
Name's Phoebe. Did you know that? You reckon
Phoebe knew something? Did Phoebe serve her God? I want
to sit down with Phoebe. How was that trip? What'd God
do for you? Oh, you wouldn't believe it. There's a storm and
a tree fell and there's some robbers jumped out of the wall.
It'd be wonderful. Look what the Lord did. You know what she'd
tell you. Romans 16 begins, I commend unto
you, Phoebe, our sister, which is a servant of the church, which
is at Cintra. And that letter to Rome is complete.
And Paul says to the God, only wise be glory through Jesus Christ
forever. Amen. And then there's a subscription
and it says written to the Romans from Corinth and sent by Phoebe,
the servant of the church. We have a labor of our dear brother,
Timothy. Oh, Timotheus, we learned a lot
about. The Lord used him mightily, didn't
he? Why did Timothy know the gospel? Lois and Eunice, they
raised him underneath the word of the gospel. Word of the Lord. Hebrews 11, Sarah by faith, she
received strength to concede because she judged God faithful.
By faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with him that believed not
when she had received the spies in peace. Paul said, he also
wrote, he said, I suffer not a woman to teach nor to use of
authority over the man, but to be in silence. Why would Paul
give that warning? That's like me telling somebody,
a small child, real short, like, you're not allowed to dunk basketballs.
They can't dunk a basketball anyway. You can't do it. He told
them that because they could. It's not because they weren't
able or because they didn't have something to say. It's because they were
able and they did have something to say. One more. I'm laboring this on purpose.
We need it. The only time that I can recall and I've researched
that this is said in the scriptures A woman came in with an alabaster
box. She broke it open and anointed the head of our Lord. And that
whole room smelled. That odor went forth. It was
wonderful. And the disciples had indignation. She wasted the Lord's money,
didn't he? And he said, why trouble ye this
woman? That's the only time I know it was written. For she hath
wrought a good work upon me. Who did that? She did, didn't
she? Why did I labor this so much?
Why did I? Well, one, we ought to be thankful
for the women that labor in the Lord that's silent and we don't
know nothing about. We ought to be pretty appreciative
of them, better. And when the Lord calls a man,
wherever they are in this nation or this world, when the Lord
calls a man, he calls his wife, too. The scriptures say so. I
can show you in Timothy and Titus. But first, it's needed. It needs
to be said, because maybe nobody's ever said it. Maybe you never
heard that. Maybe somebody that's listening to this ain't never
heard that, and they need to hear it. And second, do you think Pilot would
have liked to pay attention to his wife? His vapor's over now. He's met eternity. You think
he'd have liked to hear what she had to say one more time?
The Proverbs 18 says, Whoso findeth a wife, findeth a good thing,
and obtaineth favor of the Lord. And you know, Proverbs ends with
the women, a woman who fears the Lord, there in Proverbs 31.
Many verses. It says, She openeth her mouth
with wisdom, and her tongue is the law of kindness. That's a
good woman. That's a good woman, isn't it?
She looketh well into the ways of her household, and eateth
not the bread of idleness." Ain't lazy either. I've labored that. Verse 19, Matthew 27, 19. And
when he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him,
saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man? You got a gut feeling, you know
there's envy going on, you know this ain't right. He's just,
he's holy, he's good. Leave him alone. For I have suffered
many things this day in a dream because of him." Good counsel. Isn't that good counsel? Good
counsel. But the chief priests and the
elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask for rabbis
and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said
unto them, whether the twain, will ye that I release unto you?
And they said, bar abbas. Oh Bar Abbas, he's in that jail
and he had that crowd chanting his name. Couldn't hear what
Pilate was saying, he could probably hear that crowd. Rabbis, Rabbis, Rabbis. Crucify him, crucify him, crucify
him. He knew he was guilty. Guilty. Verse 22, Pilate saith them,
what shall I do then with this Jesus which is called Christ?
They all said to him, let him be crucified. And the governor
said, wow, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the
more saying, let him be crucified. He kind of, kind of went to bat
for him, didn't he? When Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water
and washed his hands before the multitude saying, I'm innocent
of the blood of this just person. See ye to it. What a show! Then he answered all the people
and said, His blood be on us and our children. Then he released
Barabbas unto them, and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered
him to be crucified. son of his father. Boy, wasn't
he? Seditious, robber, murderer. That's me. That's me. And I thought,
Bar Abbas, son of the father. We are sons of God. And we cry
unto him, Abba, father, don't we? How come we were guilty and
we were set free because the king stood in our place? He opened
not his mouth. He didn't defend himself. He
wasn't there to fight an earthly battle. And according to his
word, as he purposed in his power and will and wisdom throughout
time, it happened exactly as he willed it to happen. You're free. It's against the
law for you to go back in that jail. Double jeopardy can't happen. Couldn't happen back then, can't
happen now. What a picture that is, huh? Now we are Bar Abbas. We are the sons of God. We're
the sons of our father. We were the sons of our father
Adam. Now we're the sons of God because of the second Adam. For
as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. As in Romans 8, that letter at Phoebe Carey. For you have
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received
the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father. You were
out of the jail. You didn't even know what was
going on. Finally, one day, you got in trouble. He's just mad
that you got caught. And then he thought, uh-oh, I'm
going to die. And it's right. And then news
didn't come to you. Good news came to you. Not a
gospel, the gospel. Because a person stood in your
stead. He was made sin. who knew no
sin. He was made Bar-Abbas, the sons
of Adam, that were his sons, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And when the father looks on
us and says, you were accused and you didn't say a word. Oh,
you did a good job. You did wonderful. You did everything
according to my word. You did my will. You think Bar-Abbas
was happy? If the Lord speaks to your heart,
you will be too.