What a thing to begin praying
for. Lord, would you put more love in my heart for you. Turn with me to Matthew 27. Matthew chapter 27. Last Sunday evening we read Matthew
27. And we mentioned a man named
Barabbas. And I got to thinking about him. I got to thinking about everything
that happened in that event leading up to our Lord's conviction and
crucifixion and the wonder of God's purpose
in it. Just the wonder of God's purpose
in it. And I want us to look at that
this morning. Matthew 27 verse 17 says, Therefore, when they were gathered
together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto
you? Barabbas, or Jesus, which is
called Christ. Two men stood before the people. Both of the men were well-known,
very well-known. Look at verse 16. And they had then a notable prisoner,
famous, called Barabbas. Barabbas was
well-known. His deeds were well known. The people knew. They all knew. All right, now turn with me over
to Matthew chapter 9. We're going to look at a few
places in Matthew here for a minute. This is talking about our Lord.
Matthew chapter 9 verse 26 says, And the fame hereof went abroad
into all that land. The fame. Our Lord was well known. His deeds were well known. Very well known. What were they? Turn over to Matthew 4. Matthew 4 verse 23 says, And Jesus went about all Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom. and healing all manner of sickness
and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went
throughout all Syria. And they brought unto him all
sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments,
and those which were possessed with devils, and those which
were lunatic, and those that had the palsy, And He healed
them. He healed every sick person that
came to Him. Every single one. And the people
knew that. Look at verse 25. And there followed
Him great multitudes of people from Galilee and from Decapolis
and from Jerusalem and from Judea and from beyond Jordan. Everybody
knew. Everybody knew. Alright, now
turn with me to Matthew 14. Matthew 14 verse 19 says, And
he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took
the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, He
blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and the
disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat and were
filled. And they took up of the fragments
that remained 12 baskets full. And they that had eaten were
about 5,000 men beside the women and children. Our Lord fed 5,000 men, not even counting the women
and children. Most of them probably had wives,
not all of them. Most of them probably had many
children. There were probably tens of thousands of people there.
Five loaves, two fishes, everybody knew. Everybody knew. All right, now go with me to
Luke 7. Luke 7 verse 11 says, And it
came to pass the day after that he went into a city called Nain,
and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. Now
when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was
a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was
a widow. And much people of the city was
with her, And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her,
and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the coffin,
and they that bear him stood still. And he said, Young man,
I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up and
began to speak, and he delivered him to his mother. And there
came a fear on all. And they glorified God, saying
that a great prophet is risen up among us, and that God hath
visited his people. And this rumor of him went forth
throughout all Judea, and throughout all the region round about. And
the disciples of John showed him all of these things. He raised
dead men. come forth. Verse 19 right here says, And
John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus,
saying, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?
When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath
sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come, or
look we for another? And in that same hour he cured
many of their infirmities and plagues and of evil spirits,
and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering
said unto them, Go your way and tell John what things you have
seen and heard. How that the blind see, the lame
walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, The dead are raised,
and the poor have the gospel preached to them. These men came to the Lord, and
they asked Him a question. They said, John Baptist told
us to come to you and ask you, are you he that should come,
or look we for another? And a blind man was there, and
he saw. And one possessed with the devil was healed. And he
just started healing their infirmities. Now you go tell John. And everybody knew. As we already said, there were
two men standing before Pilate here. That was one of them. The other one was well known
too. Turn with me to Mark 15. Mark 15 verse 7. And there was one named Barabbas
which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him. Insurrection means an uprising,
a rebellion. It's an uproar, that's what it
is. Verse 7, there was one named Barabbas which lay bound with
them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder
in the insurrection. Barabbas got a bunch of men together
and he started a riot. That's what he did. A riot throughout
the town. And in the process of this wicked,
chaotic, vile riot, sinful riot, Barabbas murdered a man, or maybe
more than one. It just says he committed murder.
It doesn't say how many. He might have gone through just
slaying people. All right, now turn with me to John 18. John 18, look at the last phrase
of verse 40. Now Barabbas was a robber. He was a robber. I'm sure he
was always a robber. He was probably looting in the
riot. He was a thief. He was vile. I cannot stand thieves. A man
works hard for something and then somebody comes along and
steals it. This man was vile, he was wicked, good for nothing,
and the people knew it. They all knew it. Two men stood
before the people. And Pilate said right here in
John 18 verse 39, But you have a custom that I should release
unto you, one at the Passover. Will ye therefore that I release
unto you the king of the Jews? Then cried they all again, saying,
Not this man, but Barabbas. We'll take Barabbas. This is the condemnation, that
light is come into the world, and men loved darkness, rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. Romans 1 says, Who, knowing the
judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy
of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that
do them. We'll take Barabbas. Now here's what's so full of
wonder to me about this event. As I read this Word of God, we
go through heavily this Word of God. We turn and we turn and
we turn. And as I read this Word of God,
I understand it to say that I am no better than these people and
I'm no better than Barabbas. That's what the Word says. I
understand this true word to say that I have walked according
to the course of this world. I understand it to say that I
am a child of disobedience. It says I have fulfilled the
lust of my flesh. The lust of my flesh, the desires
of my mind, And I am by nature a child of wrath just like everybody
else. That's what I understand it to
say. I understand Romans 3 to say there is none righteous,
no not one. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. I understand John 5 to say that
I will not come to Christ that I might have life. I will not. And in this flesh, I have not
the love of God in me. That's what John 5 says. I am a prisoner of sin. And as a sinner against God,
I am the leader of rebellion, my own rebellion. And in my rebellion,
in my hatred, my heart is murdered. I have robbed God of His glory. And the true word says that I
am going to stand before God and I am going to be judged compared
to. Two men are going to stand before
God and in my flesh alone I'm going to be judged compared to
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am Barabbas. That's the truth. I am Barabbas. The wonder of
this event is, and it is not good news, I'm Barabbas. I am the notorious chief of sinners,
and my God knows it. In our flesh, we are Barabbas. This event is full of wonder,
but in this event is something wonderful. It will make you want to cry. Go back with me to Matthew 27. Matthew 27 verse 21 says, The governor answered and said
unto them, Whither of the twain will ye that I release unto you?
They said, Barabbas. Pilate said unto them, What shall
I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto
him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what
evil hath he done? But they cried out the more,
saying, Let him be crucified. 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 am innocent
of the blood of this just person. See ye to it. Then answered all
the people and said, his blood be on us and on our children. Then released. He Barabbas unto them. And when he had scourged Jesus,
he delivered him to be crucified. In this flesh, we are Barabbas. But in Christ, we are Barabbas. I want to show you something.
Go with me to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4 verse 36 says, And Joseph, who by the apostles
was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son
of consolation. Bar means the son of. Nabos means consolation. Here is another name. Simon Bar-Jonah. Bar means the son of. Jonah means a dove. Here's another
name. Blind Bar Timaeus. Bar means the son of. Timaeus means foul, defiled,
polluted. But God had mercy on him, didn't
he? Do you have any idea what Bar Abbas
means. Turn with me over to Romans 8. Romans 8 verse 15 says, For you
have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. But you have received the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba." You know what that word
means? Look at the next word. Father. Bar-Abbas was a son of the Father. That's what his name means. Son
of the Father. Christ came and set him free. The only reason he went free
is because Christ came. Christ came and literally took
his place. It was his cross. That cross
was made and hewn and nailed together. Who's that for? Barabbas. It's Barabbas. You know what
he did? Make that one extra rough. Put
some splinters in that one. That was his cross. Christ died instead of Barabbas. If anybody on planet earth could
say it with confidence, Barabbas could say, Jesus Christ died
for me. Why are you still living Barabbas?
Why are you still here? Jesus Christ died for me. Every soul that says that from
the heart. This thing is of the heart. Every
soul that says that from the heart truly believing. Every
soul that Christ died for is a saved soul. That's what this
word, that's what I understand this word to say. That's the
only story I have. That's the only hope that I have. I am Barabbas and Jesus Christ
died for me. A few Wednesday nights ago, do
you remember, we were over in the Renaissance Center and we
looked at where Peter was in prison. The Lord delivered him
with a miraculous deliverance and a whole bunch of believers
were over at Mary's house, Barnabas's sister, and they were all praying
for Peter, just fervently praying for Peter. And the Lord delivered
him, opened the gates, he just walked right out. And he went
over to where they were, and he knocked on the door, and a
young damsel named Rhoda answered the door. And we mentioned how special
it was that the Lord put her name in the scripture. He could
have just said a young damsel answered the door and moved on,
you know, but he said her name was Rhoda. That he would write
that in his eternal book. And we mentioned how wonderful
it's going to be at the marriage supper of the Lamb. When we meet
all of God's saints, all the family of God, a young girl is
going to come up and she's going to say, Hi, I'm Rhoda. And we're going to say, Rhoda,
it is so wonderful. Thank you for praying for Peter. Thank
you. That was so sweet. Well, equally
as special, equally as loving would it be to hug the man standing
just over behind Rhoda. How glorious, how merciful would
it be To have a man walk up to you and say, hi, I'm Barabbas. Oh, Barabbas, all my life I thought
you were a goner. Aren't we a blessed people, Barabbas?
Thank God that he would have mercy on sinners like us, real
sinners. that Christ would die in the
stead of sinners, real sinners like us. Barabbas Christ truly
did come to save sinners, didn't he? Unto him that loved us and
washed us from our sins in his own blood. The song says, O perfect
redemption, the purchase of blood, To every believer, the promise
of God, the vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from
the Lord Jesus, a pardon receives and all of heaven says, praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord. Heaven is going
to be full of Barabbases. You know that? You know why he
saved me? I was the worst. He only comes
for the chief. And they're all going to be saying
from the bottom of their hearts and the top of their lungs, praise
the Lord. Hallelujah. Okay, let's stand
together.