The lesson this morning will
be in Luke chapter 23, and we're going to read the first
25 verses. I hope to wind up at the end
of our study with this question, Barabbas or Christ? Let's read these verses together.
Luke chapter 23, beginning with verse 1. And the whole multitude of them
arose and led him, that is Christ, unto Pilate. And they began to
accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation,
forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself
is Christ, a king. And Pilate asked him, saying,
Art thou the king of the Jews? And he answered him and said,
Thou sayest it. Then said Pilate to the chief
priest and to the people, I find no fault in this man. That is nothing worthy of death.
And they were the more fierce, saying, he stirreth up the people,
teaching throughout Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place. And
when Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were
a Galilean. And as soon as he knew he belonged
under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself
also was at Jerusalem at that time. And when Herod saw Jesus,
he was exceeding glad, for he was desirous to see him of a
long season, because he'd heard many things of him. And he hoped
to have seen some miracle done by him. Then he questioned with
him many words, but he answered him nothing. And the chief priests
and scribes stood and vehemently accused him. And Herod, with
his men of war, set him at naught and mocked him, 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 at enmity between themselves. And Pilate, when he had called
together the chief priests and the rulers of the peoples, said
unto them, You have brought this man unto me as one that perverteth
the people. And behold, I have examined him
before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things
whereof ye accuse him. No, nor yet Herod, for I sent
him, and lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will
therefore chastise him, and release him, for of necessity he must
release unto them one at the feast.' And they cried out all at once,
saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas, who
for certain sedition made in the city and for murder, was
cast into prison. Pilate, therefore, willing to
release Jesus, spake again to them. But they cried, saying,
Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third
time, Why? what evil hath he done? I found
no cause of death in him. I will therefore chastise him,
and let him go. And they were instant with loud
voices requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices
of them and of the chief priest prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that
it should be as they required. And he released unto him that
for sedition and murder was cast into prison whom they had desired,
but he delivered Jesus to their will. Now there's three things
in these verses that I want us to see this morning. Three things
so clearly revealed in these verses that the Holy Ghost has
preserved for us to read. The first thing we're confronted
with in our text is the multitude. If you want to understand what's
going on, you're going to have to understand who's involved.
And the very first thing is recorded here. Now this is after a night
of of torture and betrayal. This comes to pass after that. And the first thing we're confronted
with in our text is the multitude, verse 1, and the whole multitude
of them arose and led him unto Pilate. Who is this multitude? Who's he talking about? Who are
these people? These are the same ones who come
to get him following Judas the betrayer. And before daybreak,
we're told that the elders of the people, now he's not talking
about a bunch of old folks. When he says elders, that's not
what he's talking about. He's not talking about a bunch
of grandpas. An elder is an office. An elder in the New Testament
is a pastor. But these elders in the Jewish
religion, they were members of the Sanhedrin. The people elected
them. And they were a part of this
council, and they represented the people. Kind of a prized
material, chose of the people. These were the elders. And also,
he says, the chief priests and scribes. Now, the chief priests
and scribes, they made up the bulk of the High Council of Israel.
The Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin, I don't really
know how to explain it because I'm not under Jewish law and
religion. I haven't studied it that thoroughly.
But what I get from the old writers who have is that the Sanhedrin
was made up of two groups. One, they're kind of like our
court system, the lesser and the greater. The lesser Sanhedrin. It composed of about 23 people. And these 23 people, they had
the authority of the high priest. They had the authority of Jewish
religion to settle local matters out in the surrounding area. The great Sanhedrin abode at
Jerusalem. And they took care of matters
that concerned everybody, kind of like our high court and the
lower court. It was a legislative and judicial
assembly made up of somewhere between 23 and 71 members. And the 71 members, I believe
every one of them was there at the judgment of Christ. I think
this was an all-time serious matter for them, and I don't
think anybody stayed home. I think they were all there.
And also in that mob that came to arrest him, there were Roman
soldiers. And it's my understanding, I
just read these texts. You can read them in Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. It's in all four gospel writers,
the account. And I get the idea from this
that the Romans, that Jews were in bondage to the Romans. And
I get the idea that there were soldiers appointed to the Sanhedrin
because they could only go so far in judgmental matters. it
become an issue with Rome. That's why they sent him to Pilate
after they got him. And I believe there was no doubt
certain ones appointed just for them. And they were handy to
them. They could get them, and they did. And they went, arrested
Christ, and brought him in. There was Roman soldiers there,
probably appointed. And then there was just interested
parties. Just people who, they believed in the Sanhedrin.
They believed in what they were doing. They had bought into their
lies and bought into their schemes to get rid of Christ. There was
people, just interested parties. They wanted members of the council.
There was a Jewish maiden there. If she wasn't there, she wouldn't
have known that Peter was there, and that's what she said when
she came up there by the fire. He was with him. Well, how would
she know that if she wasn't there? There was all kinds of people.
It was a great multitude, is what one of the writers said.
And then at daybreak, they had tortured him as a guilty party. No telling what all they did
to him that evening. Some things are mentioned, very
cruel, mocking, a lot of scourging, a lot of spitting and so forth. And then when the daybreak came,
the whole of the Sanhedrin came in and set in judgment on him. Now worldly religion, which is
what's being pictured in this multitude, is organized. That's what I see in this. It's
organized. It's not just You know, we get
the idea sometimes that religion is just kind of like pepper on
an egg. You can see it. It's here, it's
there, it's all over the place. That's true enough, but it's
organized. It's organized. Cross them one time, you'll find
out how organized they are. They're organized. They're structured.
And they have a place in this world. And while they're convinced,
and most people believe this, That what they're doing is a
good service to God and the people alike. They have a good thing
that they're doing here. And people recognize that and
say, well, I've heard them say about their own children, well,
he don't go to the same church I do, but at least he's going
to church. What do they mean by that? They mean there's a
little bit of good in all of it. Most people believe that they
do a good service to God, and a good service to people a lot.
This multitude never saw themselves as enemies of God. They never
did. They thought they was doing God
a service. They never saw themselves doing
the will of Satan. But Satan calls every, every
minister of self-righteousness, he calls Satan's minister. Read
about it in the Corinthians. That's the language he uses.
His ministers are transformed into ministers of righteousness.
Well, not the righteousness of Christ. They're preaching the
righteousness of men, self-righteousness. And they're ministers of Satan.
This crowd never saw themselves as ministers of Satan. Never
did. In Matthew 26, verse 45, he tells
us that the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Now
sinners is a term sometimes used in the Bible to describe Gentiles
and heathens. We're not sinners like the Gentiles,
they say. And even though there were Gentiles
mixed in the multitude, the name sinners describes everybody that
was there. The Holy Ghost gives us a clear
warning concerning organized religious made up of self-righteous
men, their influence is powerful. And he said, this is your time,
this is your day, and the power of darkness. That's what the
Lord told. And their influence is powerful,
and when the power of darkness is not restrained, when God's
permissive will allows them to do this or that, just like He
did, the Lord said, To Satan, have you considered my servant
Job? Yeah, but you got him hedged
about. He couldn't do anything without God's permissive will,
could he? But the Lord said, there he is, just don't kill
him. Do what you want, but don't kill
him. And he did, he killed his whole family. But didn't kill
Job. He didn't kill Job. Their influence is powerful,
and when the power of darkness is not restrained, they can even
sway the judgment of powerful men like Pilate and Herod. Here was a band of Jews that
they despised. They hated their guts. The Romans,
they were no better than slaves. That's all they were. And yet
here they are. And before these men, when the
power of darkness moved, here's Pilate humbling down to do their
will. And can't get out of it, neither
can Herod. Matthew 27, verse 20, it says,
But the chief priests... Now listen to this. The chief
priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should
ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. Who convinced them of it? The
chief priests and the scribes, the elders. In Mark chapter 15
verse 11 it says, but the chief priests moved the people that
he should rather release Barabbas unto them. In Luke 23, 23 it says, and the
voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. Does that
sound like powerful force? And he describes them in detail
in Matthew 23. He said, they say and do not.
That's what these men are. He's talking about scribes, Pharisees,
the Jewish high council. He's talking about the religious
Jews. And he describes them in detail.
And he says, they say and do not. They bind heavy burdens
on men, but they themselves will not lift a finger to do anything.
All their works they do to be seen of men. If you call to gather
a feast at your house and invite them, they want the uppermost
rooms at the feast. They want the chief seats. They
love their titles, master, rabbi, father, reverend, doctor, and
the list goes on. He calls these men hypocrites
and blind. They shut up the kingdom of God
against men and will not enter themselves. They devour widows'
houses pretending to be helping them. They compass sea and land
to make proselytes like unto themselves, blind leaders of
the blind. They're careful to tithe, but
they omit the weightier matters of the law. They'll strain at
a gnat and swallow a camel. They may clean the outside of
the cup, but within they're full of excess and extortion. What's he telling us with all
this? He's telling us beware of socially accepted religion,
organized, worldly approved religion. Beware of it. These are the folks
who crucified our Lord. Paul said they'll spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit. and offers the understanding,
the tradition of men. And the last thing I want to
do as your pastor is regurgitate the traditional religious ideals
of this world. When the Lord opened my eyes,
he showed me the folly of it. Has he shown you? It's ungodly. It's blasphemous. How many times
Paul said, I blaspheme God, ignorantly, thought I was doing God a service. After the rudiments, that simply
means the rudimentary principles, the basic principles of the world. Well, what are you saying, preacher? I'm saying this world don't know
God. That's what I'm saying. When you sit down to witness
to somebody, Don't sit down there and say, now this guy knows a
little bit about God. No, he don't. He don't know anything. And what he thinks he knows is
like a wall, and you can't get over it. You can't. This world don't know the living
God. And many of them who think they do, being used of Satan,
have a powerful influence over men. This is the multitude who laid
hands on Christ and led Him to the house of the high priest. Secondly, and I covered this
in last week's lesson a little bit, they did what our Lord foretold
they were going to do. That's exactly what they did.
Let me read you a few of the other gospel writers' accounts. In Mark chapter 10 and verse
33. Now this is before his arrest,
this is before Judas betrayed him and all this, and he was
just talking to them. He said, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem,
and the Son of Man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and unto
the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver
him to the Gentiles. And they shall mock him, and
shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and kill him,
and the third day he'll rise again." He describes in detail
to them exactly what was going to take place in Jerusalem. And
those men did exactly what he said they were going to do. Similar
text in Matthew 20 verses 18 and 19 and John chapter 12 verse
33. And then in Luke 18.31, he said,
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written
by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. He'll be delivered to the Gentiles,
just like the prophets said he would. He's going to be mocked,
spitefully entreated, and spit it on, just like the prophets
said he would. And they shall scourge him and
put him to death, and the third day he'll rise again. And it
says they understood none of these things. How many times
have I stood in this pulpit and brought a message of grace? Preach
the gospel. Have a house full of people sometimes.
Preach this gospel over and over and over. And they walked out
the door in the same saying as truth. They understood nothing
that I said. Nothing that I said. They understood
none of these things, and this saying was hidden from them,
neither knew they the things which were spoken." This whole thing was a fulfillment
of Scripture and a fulfillment of the ceremonial law. While
our Lord plainly declares what shall soon take place, nobody
understood what He was saying. And the reason they didn't was
preconceived notions about the Messiah, their traditional understanding. And I tell you, every one of
us has a little suitcase, and it's carry-over out of our old
religion. And it's still like cobwebs fill
your mind. And you read something, you say,
well, that can't be. Why? Well, it don't seem right. Yeah, it's cobwebs. That's all
that is. Just sweep them away. That's
just cobwebs. That's that old religious traditional understanding. May the Lord help us. throw out
such things and lay hold of every word that proceeds out of his
mouth. And then thirdly, and I'm sorry
for taking so much time, but these things are necessary too,
but this is the heart, this third point is the heart of this whole
thing. It's a picture of substitution. Right in the middle of all this
squibbling and carrying on and scourging And scheming, man,
they had their schemes. They had it all planned out.
We're going to do this, we're going to do that, and we're going
to put pressure on old Pilot. He's going to try to get out
of it, but we ain't going to let him get out of it. And they planned
it all out. But right in the middle of that,
God draws a picture. He's not hindered one bit by
it. We are, but he ain't. And he draws us a perfect picture
of substitution. Barabbas or Christ? One must die to satisfy the justice
of God and one must be set free. Christ died, the scripture said,
just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. And I hope by
the grace of God to see myself in the shoes of Barabbas. I enjoy seeing myself in Christ.
That's my substitute. That's my representative. That's
where my hope is. But in order for that to mean
anything, I have to see myself in the same shoes as Barabbas.
I've got to see myself there first. And I hope by the grace
of God to see myself in his shoes. That is, spiritually, to take
my place with him before God. Well, what do we have in common
with Barabbas? All of God's elect have at least
five things that I can see right off the bat in common with Barabbas. First of all, we share the same
name. Whenever you see Bar, that means
son of. There was a man named Bar-Jesus. There was many, Simon Bar-Jonah. It simply means son of. That's
what bar means. And abbess means father. Means father. He's the son of
his father. All of God's elect are the sons
of their father in two respects. First of all, we're sons of Adam.
Fallen, depraved sons. Sons under the curse. In Adam
all die. Sin entered and death passed.
all in sin and come short of the glory of God. And I don't
know if Barabbas was an overindulged daddy's boy, if that's what got
him into all the problems, or if he was the son of a notorious
criminal. I don't know. It doesn't say.
It just says he's the son of his father. But I know what's
in the heart of Adam. He told me that. And that's what's
in my heart. And regardless of whose son he
is, he's guilty. He's guilty. God's elect are
all, and here's the second thing, we're all sons in Christ. Are
we not? We're God's sons. Because you
are sons, it says, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into
your hearts, crying, Abba, sons of our father. We all have
one common name, sons of our father. And then secondly, we
all share his guilt. He was a notorious sinner, but his conviction was summed
up under three headings. He was a robber. Huh? Will a man rob God? There's not
a person in here who hadn't robbed God or thought he would. We're
all robbers. We've robbed God. What are we
going to rob from God? His glory. His glory. We're all guilty of sedition.
What's that mean? That's rebellion against established
government. Is God's authority established? It is. It is. that we rebel against it, the
carnal mind's enmity against God, not subject to His law. It's an assault on the powers
that be, an organized attempt to overthrow existing authority. And fallen men, under the authority
of kings and rulers, the Bible said they take counsel against
the Lord and against His anointed. What's their problem? Let us
break their bands asunder. They're not going to rule over
us. We won't have that man rule over us. That's what they said.
We're all guilty of sedition. Can you see yourself? And we're
all guilty of murder. We say, now I'm no murderer.
Sure y'all. Sure y'all. You get mad and won't
talk to somebody. Our Lord said that's murder.
That's murder. We're all good. We're murderers. And then the third thing we have
in common with Barabbas is his place of residence. We're shackled
in prison. Are we not? We don't see ourselves
that way. I'm not chained. I'm not shackled.
Try to do something contrary to your nature, you'll find out
you're shackled. You're in a prison house. What thing soever the law saith,
it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped, and the whole world become guilty before God. He
wasn't awaiting trial. He was awaiting death. He was
on death row. He wasn't under house arrest.
He was ready to go to the cross. I'm talking about Barabbas. And then, fourthly, We all share
his standing before the law. Guilty. We don't have anything
to plead. Well, one thing I can say, no,
you don't have anything you can say. You're just guilty. You just sat there in your mouth
shut. You're guilty. That's what the scripture said. And then
fifthly, we all share with him an election of God. He didn't
release everybody in that prison house. He released Barabbas. One man. One man. I picture old Barabbas trying
to hold a bold face down among his conspirators. And here they
are. They're down here in the Roman
dungeon. And they can't hear all this talk that's going back
and forth. They can't hear what Pilate's
saying to them and all the arguments and the things that are going
on. All they can hear is when that crescendo of that crowd
went up high. And here's what old Barabbas
heard down in that prison. Give us Barabbas. And then there
was a silence. You can hear some murmuring around
there. Crucify him. Crucify him. Now this man's waiting
on his punishment, and he can hear that crowd. And what a bloodthirsty
crowd he must have thought sitting outside awaited him. And I'm
telling you right now, you can't imagine what awaits you but for
the grace of God. We're talking about eternal torment. He said to settle with our debtor
quickly, didn't he, lest you be delivered to the judge. And
then the uttermost is going to be paid. And I picture old Barabbas. He's trying to hold a bold face
down there among his conspirators. And he's hearing them, give us
Barabbas, give us Barabbas crucified. And then he hears the steps. Here comes these soldiers down
the hall. But he knew it's his time. It's his time. And of course he had others with
him there. And they're all thinking the
same thing, you know. And he hears them steps. The
door swings open to the prison and here comes these men of war,
these big men armed, and they come over there and unlock the
shackles, take him by the arms, and I can just imagine the weakness
in this man's knees, can't you? He's going out to death, the
death of the cross, he's going out there. And they come out and they open
that final door. And there he looks at that bloodthirsty
crowd, and the soldiers say, you're free to go. And he turns
and looks like it's some kind of a trick or a trap or something.
And, wow, another's been chosen to die in your stead. Huh? That's exactly what substitution
is. This man wasn't seeking God.
He was down in a prison. He didn't know God, but God revealed
to him something about his sin. And he began in his providence,
no doubt later on, unveiled it to him. Justice must be satisfied. God
must be just in order to justify guilty sinners. It's Barabbas
or Christ. And here's hope for helpless
sinners, vile, guilty, murderers, robbers of God. Here's hope.
God has a people Christ died for. Another has been chosen to die
in your stead. Now here's the question I heard.
How shall we know who it is that Jesus Christ has substituted
for? He didn't substitute for everybody.
Those conspirators of Barabbas learned that. He didn't die for
everybody. How are we going to know? Well,
the king before whose authority we stand is going to send faithful
soldiers. And they're going to come down
to your prison house. And they have keys and authority
from the king. And they're going to unlock your
shackles and take you by the hand. and lead you out into the
light of perfect justification. Full, free justification before
God. That's substitution. That's substitution. How am I going to know he's going
to send somebody to fetch me? That's how you're going to know.
And when he sends them, they're going to lay hold of you. Nobody
else could. Your mother's tears couldn't
touch that hard heart. But boy, that hand, with the
power of God, breaks the heart. That's substitution. May the Lord teach us that lesson. Thank you.