["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Welcome to Straight Path Baptist Church.
Can we please find our seats, grab a hymnal, and turn that hymnal to song number 33?
We'll begin our Sunday morning service by singing the song number 33,
Christ the Lord is risen today. Again, that is song number 33.
["Christ the Lord is risen"]
Sing it out for us.
Christ the Lord is risen today.
Alleluia!
Son of man, we will sing, Alleluia!
Raise your doors with joy and silence.
Alleluia!
Sing with us in your dream.
Alleluia!
Sing with us in your dream.
Alleluia!
Where broken is diversity?
Alleluia!
But in the sea of mercy.
Alleluia!
Where I live to be a free.
Alleluia!
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
God the fight of heaven, Alleluia!
Let me claim your peace in Christ, Alleluia!
Christ as the kingdom of God, Alleluia!
For God's peace in heaven, Christ as the kingdom of God, Alleluia!
For the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
May thy gift, my guilty rise, Alleluia!
For the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
May thy gift, my guilty rise, Alleluia!
For the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Amen.
All right, if you could please open up your handles to song number 19.
We'll be singing song number 19, There is a Fountain.
Again, that is song number 19.
Let's sing it out first.
Welcome to Straight Path Baptist Church.
It's good to see everybody out this morning.
On the back of our bulletin, we have our service times listed.
We'll be back this evening at 5.30 PM.
Again, this Thursday at 7, as we make our way through the book
of Genesis, we'll be in chapter 43.
Just really not a lot in the way of announcements right now.
But as a reminder, we are going to be having a Thanksgiving pot
luck dinner here at the church on Thursday, November 28th,
obviously, Thanksgiving Day.
And if you're planning on going, maybe kind of talk to me
if this is something you're interested in doing.
I feel like maybe the best thing to do as far as time-wise
is probably do it later in the afternoon closer
to the church service.
Because we will be having a church service at 7 PM,
as usual.
But I'm thinking maybe about 4.30.
Kind of people, if they wanted to participate, could roll in,
start eating around 5.
And that gives people plenty of time
to kind of do their thing earlier in the day.
Gives everybody a chance to double dip.
That's what we know.
That's what I used to do when I had multiple relatives.
I could go to the in-laws.
And then she could go to the in-laws.
And we could get the double dipping going on.
So if you want to do that, it's fine.
And again, if you just want to show up and maybe
have some pie with us and whatever in fellowship,
that's fine, too, maybe towards the end.
But I will have a sign-up sheet back there
where people can list how many are coming
and what they'll plan on bringing.
Because it is a potluck.
So that's really it.
Just, again, keep that in mind.
If this is something you might want to do,
it's probably going to be around that 5 o'clock.
I'm feeling like that's a pretty solid time to do this.
So anyway, that's it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get
into the preaching this morning.
All right, if you could please turn your handles
to song number 36.
We'll be singing the song number 36, Christ the Rose.
And that is song number 36.
Sing it to the king of kings on first.
Oh, what a great new day.
Jesus, my Savior, waiting in the dawning day.
Jesus, my Lord, sing it out.
When he rose with the mighty triumph o'er his bones,
he rose a victim from the dark of day,
and he lives forever in the states.
When he rose, he rose, hallelujah, Christ the Rose.
May he may watch his web, Jesus, my Savior.
May he may see the dead, Jesus, my Lord.
When he rose with the mighty triumph o'er his bones,
he rose a victim from the dark of day,
and he lives forever in the states to pray.
He arose, he arose, hallelujah, Christ the Rose.
Death cannot heal his grave, Jesus, my Savior.
He tore the hearts away, Jesus, my Lord.
Finish up strong.
When he rose with the mighty triumph o'er his bones,
he rose a victim from the dark of day,
and he lives forever in the states to pray.
He arose, he arose, hallelujah, Christ the Rose.
The deep priests accused him of many things,
and he answered nothing.
And Pilate asked him again, saying,
Ask this thou nothing?
Behold, how many things did witness against you?
But Jesus yet answered nothing to that Pilate marvel.
Now at that feast, he released unto them one prisoner
whosoever they desired, and there
was one named Barabbas, which laid down with them,
that had made his erection with them,
who had committed murder in the edge of it, his erection.
And the multitude crying, he 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 priests had delivered him
for envy.
For the chief priests moved the people
that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.
And Pilate answered and said again unto them,
What will ye that I should do unto him whom ye
call the King of the Jews?
And they cried out again, Crucify him.
And Pilate said unto him, 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 them to be crucified.
And the soldiers led him away into the hall called
Praetorium, and they called together the whole band.
And they clothed him with purple and planted a crown
of thorns, and put it out about his head,
and began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews.
And they smote him on the head with a wreath,
and they did spit on him, and bowing their knees,
worshiped him, and they had mocked him.
They took off the purple from him,
and put his own clothes on him,
and led him out to crucify him.
And they compiled one sign in of Cyrene,
who passed by, coming out of the country,
the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.
And they bring him unto the place, Belgautha,
which is being interpreted the place of a skull.
And they gave him to drink wine meagled with myrrh,
but he received it not.
And when they had crucified him,
the heart of his garments cast lots upon them,
what every man should take.
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
And the superscription of his accusation was written
over the king of the Jews.
And with him, they crucified two thieves,
the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.
And the scripture was fulfilled, which was saved,
and he was numbered with the transgressions.
And they that passed by railed on him,
wagging their heads, and saying,
ah, thou that wileth in the temple,
and bidest it in three days, save thyself,
and come down from the cross.
Likewise also, the chief priest Maki said
among himself with his Christ,
he saved others in south who cannot save.
Let Christ, the king of Israel,
descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe,
and they that were with him,
and they that were crucified with him, reviled him.
And when the sixth hour was come,
there was darkness over the whole land for the ninth hour.
And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice,
saying, Eloi, Eloi, labes hermatinai,
which is being interpreted, my God, my God,
why has God forsaken him?
And some of them that stood by when he heard it said,
behold, he called it Elias.
And one ran and filled it with a sponge full of vinegar
and put it on a wreath and gave him to drink, saying,
let alone, let us see whether Elias
will come and take him down.
And Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost,
and the veil of the temple was rent and twain
from the top to the bottom.
And when the ceterium which stood over against him
saw that he so cried out and gave up the ghost,
he said, truly, this man was the son of God.
There were also women looking on a far off,
among whom was Mary Magdalene
and Mary, the mother of James, the last,
and of Joseph and Salome,
who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him
and ministered unto him,
and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.
And now when the evening was come,
because it was the preparation,
that is the day before the Sabbath,
Joseph of Arimatathire,
an honorable counselor which also waited
on the kingdom of God, came, went,
and boldly unto Pilate and craved the body of Jesus.
And Pilate marveled if he were already dead,
and calling unto him the ceterium,
and he asked him whether he had been any while dead.
And when he knew it of the ceterium,
he gave up the body of Joseph.
And brought him, finally in,
and took him down and wrapped in the linen,
and laid him in the supper,
which was hewn out of the rock,
and wrote a stone into the door of the supper,
and Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joseph,
he howled where he was laid.
For that he prayed to us.
Well, Heavenly Father,
thank you for your goodness and mercy.
O God, thank you broadly for God's glory and honor today.
Blessed preaching from our pastor and Holy Spirit,
that he can preach boldly to you, O God.
Give us understanding and glory.
And praise be to God.
Amen, so in Mark, we're gonna look here
at just the first 15 verses where, of course,
we're covering the crucifixion of Christ.
And we've been in Mark for several months now,
throughout all this year, I believe.
I'm not really exactly sure when we started,
but we've been through it most of all this year,
if not all of it so far.
And we're here at the end.
We're in the second to last chapter, of course.
We just have Mark 15 and Mark 16, and we'll be finished.
And we're here with the crucifixion of Christ.
And in particular, what I wanna focus in on
is just one character, Barabbas,
here in these first 15 verses.
As it says there, when Christ is being brought before Pilate,
in verse nine, it says, Pilate answered them,
that being the multitude in the previous verse
that had been crying aloud.
They said to him, if you wanna look at verse eight,
they began to desire him to do
as he had ever done unto them.
And what he's referring to is the fact
that they had a custom that he would release one prisoner,
whoever it is that they desired.
So the people, the Jews, those that are there,
are being given an opportunity to have,
if they wanted, even Christ released unto him.
And if you kinda read a lot of the parallel passages
in this chapter as well,
and you kinda compare scripture to scripture,
you kinda get the sense that Pilate himself
is also trying to get them to release Christ,
that he's doing this against his will.
I'm not gonna go into all that.
But he's actually being moved by the people
to carry through this crucifixion.
He does not believe that Christ is guilty of anything.
He is actually trying to maybe persuade the people
that they would release him.
But nonetheless, he is guilty.
He is guilty of participating in the death of Christ,
the crucifixion of Christ.
But again, I'm trying to focus on
just one particular character, that being Barabbas,
who is, of course, the prisoner that they ended up
desiring that he be released unto them.
And he says there, after verse eight,
but Pilate answered them, saying,
will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews?
So they're desiring, hey, release us the prisoner.
He's like, how about Jesus, the king of the Jews?
How about him?
Would you like me to set him free?
Because if you know the story with Pilate
and all the things that have been taking place,
to think the conversations that he had with Christ,
and his wife coming to him and saying,
having nothing to do with this man,
she had a dream that troubled her.
And if you know the story of Pilate,
he's trying to wash his hands of this effect.
That's what he does, is he washes his hands and says,
I am free from the blood of this man.
Of course, that did not make him innocent in God's eyes.
If you remember, he was pretty much moved
for political reasons, because they said,
you're not the friend of Caesar, basically.
If you don't carry through with this,
if you don't execute this man, he claims to be a king.
If you don't execute this man, we have no king but Caesar,
then you're kind of committing insurrection,
just as Barabbas did, in a sense, right?
They're playing this kind of political game with him.
So for political reasons, Christ, of course,
went through with it, or excuse me,
Pilate went through with the crucifixion of Christ.
But he's trying to get Christ set free,
and part of the reason is, in verse 10, if you read there,
it says, for he knew that the chief priest
had delivered him for envy.
So he sees what's going on.
He understands that Christ has not been guilty of anything,
that these Jews are just the Pharisees, the Sadducees.
He's probably heard a lot of things
that have been happening over the last couple of years,
and he sees what's going on.
He has the lay of the land.
You guys are just delivering him for envy.
This man has done nothing worthy of death,
and he's trying to get them to say,
hey, how about the king of the Jews?
How about I release unto you Jesus, the Christ?
And it says there in verse 11,
but the chief priests moved the people
that he would rather release Barabbas unto them.
So they're saying, no, no, no, we don't want Jesus.
We want Barabbas.
Give us Barabbas, who actually is guilty.
The Bible makes it very clear in this passage
and all of the gospels,
the parallel passages in those gospels,
that Barabbas is a murderer, he is a rebel,
and that he's a robber,
that he is somebody that is worthy of death,
and not just because he committed insurrection,
but also because he is a murderer,
that he killed somebody in that resurrection,
and also that he is a robber.
Of course, the Bible does not condemn
thievery or stealing with the death penalty.
That was Roman law, right?
That's why we see Christ being crucified
between two themes.
That was not Old Testament law.
That wasn't the Jews that did that.
That was an extreme punishment for a crime
carried out by the Romans.
But I digress.
Get back here in the story.
It says here, the chief priests moved the people
that he would rather release Barabbas unto them.
So he's saying, how about Jesus?
Nope, we want Barabbas to be crucified,
or to be released, and Christ to be crucified.
And again, let's just look at Barabbas
a little bit this morning,
and kind of get a sense of maybe how we can apply this
to ourselves, and maybe in other ways as well.
It says there in verse seven,
and there was one named Barabbas,
which lay bound with them,
meaning he was in jail with them,
that had made insurrection,
which is basically rebellion.
So he's trying to lead a revolt
against the Roman government.
We don't know a lot about everything that take place,
but we know that's what he's guilty of.
That's why he's bound with them,
who had committed murder in the resurrection.
So again, this is the narrator of scripture.
There's the Holy Spirit telling us this.
So he is definitely guilty of this.
This isn't like, well, did they just falsely accuse him?
Christ is the one that's falsely accused.
Barabbas is beyond doubt guilty,
and worthy of death, okay?
So he deserves to die,
whereas Christ does not, okay?
He had committed murder in the insurrection.
Now, if you wanna keep something there in Mark,
we'll come back a little bit later,
but we're gonna look at Matthew and Luke as well.
You could go over to Matthew.
Go over to Matthew chapter number 15,
and I'll begin reading in verse six
if you'd like to just catch up there
in Matthew chapter 15 and verse six.
It says, now at the feast,
he released unto them one prisoner
whomsoever they desired.
So again, that's why we read in Mark
where it says, you know, as his custom was,
or as, you know, as he had ever done
is what it says there.
They desired as he had ever done.
So every feast, every year,
he would release that prisoner.
We're just, you know, confirming that here
in Matthew chapter 15.
Notice verse seven.
And there was one named Barabbas
which lay bound with them
that had made insurrection with them
who had committed murder in the insurrection.
And the multitude cried aloud
and began, desired him to do as he had ever done.
But Pilate answered saying,
well, you release, I think I'm reading Mark again.
Am I reading Mark again?
Yeah.
Well, just go to Luke 23, Luke chapter 23.
Copy and paste error on that one.
Luke chapter 23 verse 18.
And they cried aloud all at once saying,
away with this man and release unto us Barabbas,
for a certain, who was for a certain sedition
made in the city and for murder
was cast into prison.
So again, he's a rebel, he's committing murder.
And it says in verse 20,
Pilate therefore willing to release Jesus,
spake again to them, right?
So they're saying, give us Barabbas.
And he's saying, well, how about Jesus?
But they cried saying, crucify him, crucify him.
So now they're shouting, they're crying out,
they're yelling, crucify Christ and give us Barabbas.
And again, I know I'm kind of driving
the same point here at home here
and I'll make application a second,
but get yourself in that scenario.
What there is that they're requesting,
what is that they're desiring,
is that a literal murderer,
a guy who has committed insurrection
and has killed people in that insurrection,
who is guilty of death, worthy of death,
is the one that they're wanting to be released unto him
and they want Christ, rather,
who has committed nothing wrong,
who has done nothing wrong,
committed no crime to be crucified in his place.
And again, we know it's out of envy that they're doing this.
Verse 22, and he said unto them the third time,
why, what evil hath he done?
I have found no cause of death in him.
I will therefore chastise him and let him go.
So again, you get the sense of how Pilate's trying to,
you know, work his way out of this.
He doesn't want to be guilty of this man's innocent blood.
And they were instant with loud voices
requiring that he might be crucified.
And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.
So it's like this, you know, this argument
and this public concourse is taking place.
You know, Pilate's trying to,
is addressing the people in his speech
and he's trying to get Christ released.
Hey, I'll chastise him and let him go.
But they're insisting, right?
So it's not just this quick back and forth.
They're insisting that Barabbas
is the one that's released unto them.
Why, he says, what evil hath he done?
So he's even making the case.
He's not done anything wrong.
I found no cause of death in him.
I will therefore chastise him and let him go.
But again, they're instant.
They're like, nope.
You know, they're cutting him off
requiring that he might be crucified.
We want Christ crucified and give us Barabbas instead.
So the Bible's putting emphasis on this.
It's giving us these details, making it real clear to us
that the people are insisting that Christ is crucified
and that a murderer is released unto them.
And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.
Finally, he just gives in and just says,
fine, have it your way and ends up releasing.
It says, verse 25, 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.
So he carries it out.
If you want to go to John chapter number eight,
John chapter number eight,
begin reading in verse 42 of John chapter number eight,
it says, Jesus said unto them,
if God were your father, you would love me.
So he's speaking with the Pharisees.
For I proceeded forth and came from God,
neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Why do you not understand my speech
even because he cannot hear my word?
For ye, he says, ye of your father,
excuse me, the devil and the lust of your father,
he will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning
and abode not in the truth
because there is no truth in him.
And when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own
for he is a liar and the father of it.
And because I tell you the truth, you believe me not.
Now I had you turn here because I want to start
to make some parallels with Barabbas.
See, Barabbas represents,
he can represent either one of two characters
in the scripture and I believe they're both correct.
And the first one would be is that Barabbas
is actually a representative of Satan himself.
That because he is a murderer,
this is definitely a plausible application.
I don't think it's the most applicable one,
but it's definitely a plausible one
because again, he is a murderer, right?
And we see that Satan's will is what's being,
also kind of being accomplished here.
At least that's what he thinks.
Ultimately it's gonna backfire in him
with the crucifixion of Christ.
He's trying to get the people
to have this crucifixion take place.
He's trying to destroy Christ,
but ultimately we know that's gonna be his undoing.
But some people will preach and say,
hey, Barabbas is representative of Satan.
And I believe that that's a perfectly valid interpretation.
Year of your father, the devil,
the less of your father he will do,
he was a murderer, right?
If you would, go to Acts chapter number three,
Acts chapter number three.
And I'm kind of making this point
because I want us to understand
that the devil gets involved.
The devil gets involved in religion.
The devil gets involved even in politics.
The devil is involved in the affairs of men.
He works.
And one particular religion,
any religion that's preaching a false gospel
or no gospel at all is of the devil.
It's satanic in nature
because it's gonna lead people to hell ultimately.
But one religion in particular is that of Judaism.
The Bible makes it very clear
that Judaism is a satanic religion.
And you can kind of see where that comes from.
They're desiring a murderer to be delivered unto them
who is looking back,
we could see as a type of Satan.
They're essentially rejecting Christ
and choosing a murderer.
They're choosing somebody who is guilty,
somebody who has committed insurrection, right?
Which is what the devil did.
If you remember, the devil rebelled against God.
In his pride, he rebelled against God and his angels.
And the Bible says, Christ said,
hey, he was a murderer from the beginning.
That's what he is.
And if you're in Acts,
go to Acts chapter three, verse 13,
the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob.
Of course, this is Peter and John explaining this
to the Jews in the temple
after they had healed the man that was lame
who was asked all into the gate beautiful.
And he said, silver and gold have I none,
but such as I have give I unto thee
in the name of Jesus Christ,
rise up and walk basically.
And there was that great healing
if you remember that in the story.
And now Peter here is explaining to the Jews
that it's witnessed this miracle.
And he's saying the God of Abraham
and the God of Isaac and of Jacob
and the God of our fathers hath glorified his son Jesus,
whom he delivered up and denied him
in the presence of Pilate
when he was determined to let him go.
So who is Peter blaming for the death of Christ?
Is it the Romans?
No, he's in the synagogue.
He's in the temple actually.
And he's preaching to those that are there.
He's preaching to the Jews.
He's preaching to the Pharisees, the Sadducees.
And he's saying, ye delivered him up.
And denied him in the presence of Pilate
when he was determined to let him go.
Ye denied the Holy One and just a desire to murderer
to be granted unto you and kill the prince of life
whom God hath raised and from the dead
whereof we are witnesses.
Now obviously, this is very just plain on its face.
The Bible makes it abundantly clear
that the Jews of that day, that time,
were guilty of the blood of Christ.
And a lot of people will call that anti-Semitic.
Call it whatever you want.
It's what the Bible says.
And we're living in such a politically correct day
where we have to just consider everyone's feelings
and everything and people have such a problem
even with this just basic biblical truth
that people have preached and believed
for thousands of years.
Literally thousands of years it's been understood
that those that crucified and killed Christ
and are guilty of his blood are the Jews.
Now obviously, the Romans,
they're guilty in a sense too.
Of course, they are the literal physical arm
that went out and crucified Christ.
It was by their hands that he did it,
but they were doing the will of the Jews.
They were doing the will of those that were there that day.
We just read it where Pilate's saying,
I'll scourge him, I'll let him go, I'll test.
What evil hath he done?
He's arguing with them and they're just persisting
and insisting that they deliver them Barabbas
and deliver Christ unto the cross.
And then you have Peter just flat out saying it.
Hey, you guys are the ones that killed the prince of life
whom God hath raised from the dead where we are witnesses.
So they are guilty of the blood of Christ.
Now, obviously we can't lay that charge
on those that are practicing Judaism today.
We can't say that the Jews of today,
those that practice that religion of Judaism
are guilty of the blood of Christ.
But nonetheless, they are still following
a satanic religion.
And this is important again to understand
because even in Christian, when you kind of get out of,
you know, into mainstream Christianity,
you'll start to hear these terms
like Judeo-Christian religion
or Judeo-Christian ethics, right?
Where even in the world, they want to kind of make,
you know, Jews and Christians, you know,
like we kind of have some things in common.
We have some common ground.
And you know what, that might even be true in some ways.
Maybe there is some common ground.
I don't know it's necessarily because they're Jews
and we're Christians that we have that common ground.
But where we differ is on a really big point.
It's called Christ, okay?
When you're differing on Christ,
when you're differing on the Son of God,
you know, that destroys any common ground
you might have with anybody.
That's a big issue.
That's not something we can just gloss over and be like,
well, I know the Jews reject Christ.
I know that, you know,
the Talmud teaches all kinds of wicked things.
You know, their holy books, their holy encyclopedia set,
you know, teaches horrible, wicked things about Christ
that I dare not even repeat from the pulpit
because it's just so crass.
You know, I know that's what they believe,
that a lot of them are, you know,
don't even believe the Old Testament.
They do not believe the accounts of the Old Testament, right?
For example, there's one real popular Jew today
that maybe, you know,
we probably have heard a little bit from
given it's a political season, Ben Shapiro, right?
And look, Ben Shapiro is, you know,
a great political commentator.
He's a funny guy.
He cracks some jokes sometimes I think are kind of funny.
But, you know, he's got the little skull cat back there,
whatever they call it, and he's a Jew.
And that guy has, you know, you listen to him long enough,
he'll start denying the creation account.
You know, he believes in evolution.
He believes in all these things.
He does not believe the Bible, okay?
The Bible makes it abundantly clear
that Judaism is the synagogue of Satan.
Now, if you go to Revelation chapter number two,
go to Revelation chapter number two,
it actually says this twice in scripture, okay?
In Revelation chapter number two,
we'll just read in verse nine, it says,
I know thy works, being Smyrna,
he's writing to the church of Smyrna,
and tribulation and poverty, but thou art rich.
And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews
and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan.
So the Bible is saying that there's a group of people
that say they are Jews, but they are not.
Now, how can you say you're a Jew and not be a Jew, right?
Well, Romans two teaches us at the end of the chapter
that he is not a Jew which is one outwardly,
but he's a Jew which is one inwardly, right?
That he is one who is a Jew inwardly,
whose circumcision is that of the heart and not of the flesh
whose praises of God and not of men.
We are the circumcision of the heart,
the circumcision made without hands.
We are the children of Abraham by faith, right?
Because that's what they want to claim.
We are the descendants of Abraham.
We are the descendants of the patriarchs,
which no one on a physical level,
genealogically speaking, if that's a word,
can actually prove that.
None of these Jews today that claim to be actual descendants
from Old Testament Israel have any way
of proving that whatsoever.
In fact, there's a lot of contrary evidence
that would probably just say,
actually what you guys are are a bunch of Polish Europeans,
Ashkenazi Jews that adopted the religion of Judaism
at one point and then went over and took over the Holy Land,
whatever you want to, if you could even call it that.
That the Jews that are occupying the space
in Israel today, they're not the descendants of Abraham.
And look, even if they were, it means nothing.
John the Baptist said, think not to say within yourselves
that we have Abraham to our father,
for verily I say unto you that God is of these stones
able to raise up children unto Abraham.
He's saying your bloodline, your genealogy means nothing.
It doesn't matter, okay?
So those that say they are Jews and are not,
the Bible says, are actually of the synagogue of Satan.
That's pretty strong language to say,
hey, this, and what other religion worships in a synagogue?
It's only those that practice Judaism, it's Jews.
So there's a, what do we learn from this?
What's the application?
If we look at Barabbas as Satan,
that's who the Jews chose that day.
They said, give us Satan.
They rejected Christ and in a sense
they would have adopted Satan.
And the Bible, that's why it's calling them
the synagogue of Satan, folks.
And remember what they said.
They said at that hearing with Pilate,
his blood be upon us and upon our children.
They actually, they invoked a curse upon themselves.
Where they said, his blood be upon us
and upon our children.
And I believe God confirmed that.
I believe God said, so be it.
And that's why within 70 years later,
they're literally chased out of Jerusalem.
They're chased out of Judea and Jerusalem is destroyed,
laid waste, everything is just destroyed.
And they were scattered among the nations
and mixed with the heathen.
That nation has ceased to exist.
The people that are over there today,
that is not the regathering of God's people.
That is a farce, that is a made up thing.
That is Zionism.
That's a whole nother sermon right there in and of itself.
But those that are practicing the religion of Judaism,
that have adopted that to themselves,
they are, whether they want to admit it or not,
it's actually satanic in nature.
Now look, I'm not saying that they're all getting together
in black robes and they got a pentagram painted somewhere.
I mean, maybe some of them do, I don't know.
And they're into actual satanic practice.
But just like the Jews of Jesus's day,
they chose a murderer and rejected Christ,
so are they doing today.
When you're rejecting Christ and worshiping another God,
you are worshiping Satan, essentially.
You're worshiping a false Christ, you are following.
Even if you're not gonna name the name of the devil,
you are still following a satanic religion.
So that's the first application, which I think has merit.
But I think the one that maybe is a little bit more
applicable when it comes to how we're gonna apply
this character, Barabbas, is that we represent Barabbas
in the story.
And I think that, to me, that's the more meaningful,
I think they're both right.
I think they're both correct interpretations.
But to me, the one that really hits home
is the fact that we can look at Barabbas
and see ourselves there, okay?
Now if you would, go over to John chapter 10,
John chapter number 10.
It says in John 10, in verse 10,
it says, the thief cometh not before to steal, right?
So he's saying the thief cometh not before to steal,
and that's another picture of the devil.
That's another description of the devil, right?
And correlation with Barabbas, because it says in John 18,
Barabbas was a robber.
So he's a rebel, right, he commits insurrection.
He's a murderer, and he's a robber, he's a thief.
So you can see that here in John 10,
the devil is represented there as well.
The thief cometh not before to steal,
to kill, and to destroy.
That's Satan.
I am come that they may have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly.
But notice in verse 11, it says,
I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep.
So you can look at the story,
and if you wanna go back to Mark 15, go back to Mark 15,
another way to look at this passage
is to look at it as Barabbas representing the sinner,
Barabbas representing not the devil but me and you, okay?
It says in verse eight, and the multitude,
crying aloud, began to desire him
to do as they had ever done.
But Pilate answered them, saying,
will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews?
For they knew that the chief priests
had delivered him for envy,
but the chief priests moved the people
that he would rather release Barabbas.
Now remember, Jesus has told Pilate you have no power
except that which is given you from heaven, basically.
And even leading up to the crucifixion,
if you remember in the garden,
when Peter pulls out the sword,
it smites the servants' ears of the high priests,
so those that are trying to arrest Christ,
he says, you know, put up thy sword into its sheath.
He said, no, you're not that I could call
10,000 legions of angels
and my father would presently give them me.
So the Bible makes it clear,
Christ could have stopped this at any point.
But obviously, he said, not my will, but thy will be done.
It is God's will that Christ give his life as a ransom, okay?
And you can kinda see that in the story.
You know, Barabbas has a death sentence, he's guilty.
He deserves to die.
And look, that's me and you in the story.
The Bible says all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God.
The Bible says the wages of sin is death.
You know, that we were dead in trespasses and sins.
And without Christ, you know, we are going to go to hell.
If we are not saved, you know,
that is the death that we face.
Not just, obviously in the flesh,
the flesh cannot be redeemed.
It has to go through that process of growing old and dying.
But there's also what the Bible calls the second death,
right, where death and hell are cast in the lake of fire.
That's what we would call hell.
This is the second death.
So that's part of that wage that we owe, right?
And that wage is a wage of debt.
We are indebted by sin.
We are condemned by sin.
We are guilty, okay?
Like Barabbas.
Now we might not have literally committed
some of the sins that he committed.
I hope not.
Has anyone here ever committed murder?
Okay, good.
All right, I'm just checking, you know.
I was going to pick up the phone and call the authorities.
Not surprised by that, all right?
No one's got any body stuffed in a freezer at home
or anything like that.
But you know, we've probably all hated our brother
in our heart at some point or another, or cursed somebody.
Right?
And Jesus said, you know,
if you've hated your brother in heart,
you've committed a murder already, right?
Meaning that, you know,
we by nature are capable of these things.
We by nature are guilty of sin, okay?
So we're like Barabbas.
There's no question about it
that Barabbas is a guilty individual,
that he deserves to die.
He deserves what he's got coming to him.
You and I are guilty this morning.
Now we're redeemed, right?
And this is something sometimes people understand
when you preach the gospel to them.
You know, I'll ask them at the end
after they've got an understanding of the gospel,
say, so are you willing to admit
that you deserve to go to hell?
And they'll say, well, no, I don't.
And they'll have to explain, well, actually you do.
And what they're doing is they're thinking,
well, I'm saying, you know, I believed on Jesus,
so I'm not going to go to hell.
And amen, that's true.
If we've believed on Christ, you know,
we are going to go to heaven.
But you and I, even though we're redeemed,
we still deserve to go to hell.
You know, if we did not have the blood of Christ,
if we were not redeemed, if we were not saved,
that is what we deserve.
And that hasn't changed.
It's just like praise God by his grace and his mercy,
he saved us and redeemed us.
But again, you know, I went to John 10 there for a minute
where you kind of have, you know,
kind of use that as a transitional passage
where he's talking about the thief
that has come to destroy, right?
And that being representative of the devil,
representative of Barabbas,
but also the fact that Christ gives his life for the sheep.
Christ gives himself as a ransom.
And that's kind of what's taking place in the story.
That's another way you can apply it.
Barabbas goes free.
He's freed from prison.
He's not going to face death.
He's not going to be executed.
And Christ is rather, goes to the cross in his stead.
I don't know where I had you leave off there,
but if you want to just go over to Galatians,
chapter number one,
we'll look at a couple of passages in Galatians.
You know, that's a great picture
of the gospels here in the story.
Is that, you know, we're guilty.
We are like Barabbas this morning.
And we deserve that punishment.
And Christ has redeemed us from that punishment.
Christ has taken our place.
As he said, I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
That's what he does.
He said in Mark 20, the son of man
came not to be ministered unto, not Mark 20,
but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.
He said in 1 Timothy, chapter two, verse three,
this is good and acceptable in the sight of God,
our savior, who have all men to be saved
and come to the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God and one mediator
and God, a man, the man Christ Jesus, who did what?
Who gave his life a ransom for many to be testified,
or excuse me, a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
So he paid, you know, a ransom is, you know,
you're someone's paying a price basically, right?
If you ever heard of ransom money, like, you know,
if someone's kidnapped, right?
If there's someone being held hostage,
they have to pay a certain ransom and then they're set free.
You and I are like Barabbas because we're bound.
We were bound in a prison, so to speak, spiritually.
We were not freed from the law.
We were condemned by it, but Christ has paid that ransom,
right, he's paid that substitute for us.
Look at Galatians, chapter one, verse three,
grace be to you and peace from God our father
and from the Lord Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for our sins.
So Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins, okay?
You know, and I know this isn't anything new.
I know we all understand this.
I know we all get it, but I think sometimes
we just have to let that sink in.
We have to be reminded of these things
and, you know, how truly great is our salvation.
You know, the price that was paid was not a light thing.
It's not something that we should take lightly.
It's not something we should take for granted.
It's something that, you know, we should be often reminded
of, it's something we should be thanking God for
really every day of our lives.
You know, if you don't, I don't care what else is going on
in your life, you know, you could get down on your knees
at any time and praise God that you're saved,
that God has redeemed you, that has given himself
for your sins.
Well, you know, I don't feel like God's blessing me.
I don't feel like God's doing this or doing that.
Well, you know, you know, he gave himself for your sins.
That's a pretty big deal right there.
That he might deliver us from this present evil world
according to the will of God and our father.
Go to Galatians chapter number two,
Galatians chapter number two.
So obviously that's the picture there, right?
That Barabbas kind of represents me and you,
represents the sinner who's bound, guilty, condemned.
It is going to be executed, is going to suffer punishment.
It's unavoidable.
And it's not till Christ comes along
and is actually willingly takes his place
and Barabbas gets to go free.
That's a picture of salvation.
We're bound.
We are going to die.
We're gonna go to hell.
But Christ, praise God, came, you know,
was manifest in the flesh and lived
a perfect and sinless life.
You know, he was tempted in all points like as we are,
yet without sin.
And he gave himself as a ransom for all.
That's the picture, right?
But let's make some application here in closing.
Look at Galatians chapter two, verse 20.
He said, this is Paul saying, I am crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, I live.
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
So he's saying, I am crucified with Christ.
Obviously, he doesn't mean that literally.
But he's talking about the fact that the old man, that flesh,
has been crucified with Christ and that we
are a new creature in Christ.
Behold, all things are made new.
He said, nevertheless, I live because I'm a new man.
I'm the new creature in Christ.
And he says, yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me.
And the life which I now live in the flesh,
I live by the faith of the Son of God.
So he's saying, I was crucified.
That old man died with Christ.
He took my place.
And yet I live by the faith of Christ.
I am that new creature who loved me and gave himself for me.
Again, Christ giving himself for us.
And that's the picture, that he gave himself,
that he took our place.
But notice here that because Christ gave himself for us,
we have been purchased.
We've been bought with a price, that Christ
has redeemed us.
We don't read about Barabbas after the story.
We don't read anything about him.
We don't know what happened.
We can speculate.
And sometimes I like to do that.
I like to think about, well, what did Barabbas do after that?
Did he go out, perhaps, and kind of like, well, who is this?
Maybe he was in jail so long awaiting execution
that he didn't have time to hear about Jesus
or find out about these things.
I like to think that Barabbas got out of jail
and got saved, that he was stuck around and heard
about Christ and everything he'd been doing.
Like, well, who was this guy that took my place?
And maybe others who had believed on Christ
would preach the gospel to him and explain
that this was all the miracles that he did
and the things that he preached.
And this guy ended up getting saved.
And maybe, you know, probably might have even felt indebted.
I mean, I don't know about you, if somebody stepped in
and spared my life, I would feel indebted
to that individual.
I don't know that you could ever really fully repay somebody.
But if one of you somehow stepped in and spared
my life in some way, shape, or form,
you can count on getting a Christmas card that year.
I'm probably going to remember your birthday, right?
I'd like to think that Barabbas walked out of that jail cell
thinking, man, I've got a whole new chance at life.
I was, you know, from one day to the next, I'm facing death.
I'm facing execution.
I should have been on that cross.
It should have been me hanging between those two thieves.
And no objections, I'm guilty.
I deserved it.
Who's this Jesus?
Who's this Christ that everyone was making a fuss about?
Well, he was the Son of God.
Well, he was the Lord.
He was the Lamb of God.
And he came and did all these great things.
And I'd like to think that Barabbas got saved.
But you know what, after that, probably felt maybe indebted.
Maybe, I don't know.
Maybe Barabbas went out and tried
to commit insurrection again the next day.
Maybe he found his old crew and said, hey, guys, let's try.
Let's give him one more shot.
But I like to think that he got saved
and that maybe joined the church, got involved.
Who knows?
Could have done great things for God.
And again, that's still a picture of me and you.
And that's the way it ought to be.
And we all understand that salvation is by grace.
Through faith, it's not of works.
And that you can get saved and live however you want.
You could get saved and not change.
Continue on in the same sins that you were guilty
of before you got saved.
You don't have to change a thing about your life
and still go to heaven.
But that doesn't mean that you should.
That's not gotten.
And it's not like God's just OK with that.
The Christian life or serving God is just kind of,
it is optional, but it's also preferred.
God's just kind of like, hey, whatever you want.
I know I sent my son to die for you and to redeem you.
And whatever you do after you get saved is kind of up to you.
It is up to you.
But God has a will for us.
God has a will for us, our sanctification.
God wants us to live godly and holy in Christ Jesus.
God wants us to grow in the knowledge and the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are indebted to Christ.
That's what Paul said.
He said, I'm crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, I live.
And the life that I now live in the flesh,
I live by the face of the Son of God who gave himself for me.
He's saying, the life that I'm living,
I'm living by faith because Christ gave himself for me.
I'm indebted to do God's will.
Go to 1 Peter chapter 4, 1 Peter chapter number 4.
You know, maybe Barabbas walked out of that jail
and hooked up with the disciples and said, what can I do to help?
What can I do to repay?
You know, he got saved and started serving God.
That would be, you know, that's not
beyond the scope of possibility.
I mean, that very likely could have been what happened.
Look at 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 1.
For as much then Christ has suffered for us in the flesh,
arm yourselves likewise with the same mind.
What is he saying?
You should be willing to suffer in the flesh.
And this is why a lot of people don't want to live
the Christian life.
They'll take salvation all day.
They love that because it doesn't cost them anything.
You know, salvation comes at the cost of Christ's suffering.
We don't have to suffer at all for our salvation.
It's just really given to us.
You know, maybe you had to sit there and listen to somebody
preaching the gospel for a minute.
You know, but that's it.
Go ahead and do as you believe, that's easy.
You know, Christ did the suffering for us.
But he's saying here, 1 Peter, Peter's saying,
as much as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh,
arm yourselves with the same mind.
I mean, if you're going to live for God, which
is what you ought to do, be prepared to suffer in the flesh.
And look, this is why so many people, they don't want to do it.
They don't, they'll take salvation all day.
There's no suffering involved.
But when it comes to actually living the Christian life,
you're going to have to make hard decisions.
You're going to have to suffer in the flesh.
Yea, all they that live in Godly Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution.
And whether that's from external sources,
that's something that's going to happen.
But not only that, you know, your flesh
is going to resist the spirit.
You know, that's a battle that you have to fight
in the Christian life.
These two are contrary one to the other
so that you cannot do the things that you would, right?
But that's not, you know, God doesn't give us a pass.
You know, we don't get a pass on that.
Say, well, I know it's suffering and it's hard.
You know, if you don't want to do that, that's fine.
No problem.
No, Peter's saying arm yourselves with the same mind,
to be willing to suffer just as Christ suffered for us.
He's saying, you know, arm yourself with the same mind.
For he that has suffered in the flesh has seethed from sin.
That he no longer should live the rest of his time
in the flesh to the lust of men, but to the will of God.
We should no longer live the rest of our lives in the flesh.
That's not God's will for you.
We should live it, what, not to the lust of men,
but to the will of God.
We need to figure out what God's will is for our lives
and do it.
And look, I'm not talking about some mysterious hocus pocus
type of, you know, will.
I'm saying what the Bible says.
What's God's will?
It's right here.
It's all in this book.
And it applies to every single one of us.
Go to Titus chapter number two, Titus chapter number two.
I like to think Barabbas got out, you know,
everything was explained to him.
He understood what had just happened.
I mean, imagine being Barabbas.
And then finding out that this random stranger,
I don't know if he knew who he was or not, gave it,
you know, basically was crucified in your place,
that the people desired him over you.
And you're like, but that guy didn't do anything wrong.
I know I did everything wrong.
Like I deserve my punishment.
And then to find out, you know, the, you know,
the Roman guards show up, they open up that cell door.
They take those shackles off and say, go ahead, buddy.
You're free.
You know, and you look over and there's Christ being whipped
and scourged and beaten and spat upon and mocked.
And drug out of there.
Maybe Barabbas, you know, followed along
and watched him get crucified.
I don't know what he did.
But imagine being there that day, being that guy.
You know, I'd have to imagine he probably felt like,
wow, I need to find out who this is.
I need to learn more, like who did that?
Who is this guy?
What's so, you know, what's so special about him
that he was chosen over me?
Well, how is it I'm going free
when he's done nothing wrong?
And I like to think he went and found out these things,
found out who Christ was, got saved,
and said, you know what?
Because he redeemed me literally from a physical death.
He's redeemed me from a spiritual death.
You know, I shouldn't live the rest of my life
to the lust of men and the will of my own flesh.
I should live to the will of God.
I mean, that's the same thing
we should be saying to ourselves.
You know, we weren't let out of a literal prison.
We didn't have literal shackles taken off of us.
But you know, you were freed from the prison of hell.
You were freed from the prison of hell.
You were freed from the shackle of sin.
You were freed from the shackles of this flesh
when you got saved.
You know, Christ was crucified for you.
You know, we can read the scriptures
and we can follow along.
We can follow Christ up that hill
to that place of the skull.
We can go up Golgotha.
We can go up to Calvary's Mount.
We could go there in our minds
and understand that these places are real,
that this actually happened,
and understand that he gave his life a ransom for all
to be testified in new time,
that he gave his life a ransom for many,
that he came and gave himself a ransom for me and you.
We can understand that and we should.
You know, and there should be a response
and it should move us.
And it should compel us to want to know more about Christ
and what it means to live for him
and what the will of God is for us.
Look at Titus chapter two, verse 11.
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation
hath appeared to all men.
Well, praise the Lord for that.
But you know, it goes on.
That's the gospel.
Hey, the grace of God that bringeth salvation
has appeared to all men.
And you know, that's all there is to Christian life.
Just get saved and that's it.
No, he goes on.
He says in verse 12, teaching us
that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live soberly, righteously, and godly
in this present world, in this present world.
Look, we're all gonna live godly, soberly, righteously
while we're in heaven.
That's a given.
We're gonna have the new man.
We're gonna have the new body.
The flesh is gonna be done away.
But until that day, you know, we have to endeavor
to do these things in this present world.
Looking for that blessed hope,
the glorious appearing of the great God
and our savior Jesus Christ.
In verse 14, notice, he brings it up again,
who gave himself for us.
Oh, why should I live, you know,
why should I deny the lust of the flesh?
Why should I deny worldly lust?
Why should I live soberly?
Why should I live righteously?
Because he gave himself for us.
Yes, he gave himself for Barabbas, in a sense, that day.
But not only that, you know, Barabbas wasn't the only one
that was freed that day, me and you were.
He gave himself for us that he might deem us
from all iniquity.
And look, that's exactly what's taken place.
All our sins, past, present, and future,
we've been redeemed from them by Christ,
through his suffering.
And purify himself, a peculiar people,
zealous of good works.
So that's God's will.
Yeah, I want to redeem you for all iniquity,
but I also want to purify you,
and I want to make you a peculiar people.
A people that stands out,
I want to make you different than the world.
And I want you to do what?
Be zealous of good works.
That's what God wants.
He wants the people that get saved
to go on and serve him and to be zealous.
That's what I like to think Barabbas did.
He got saved, you know, he got literally redeemed,
had his life, and he got a second chance on life,
went out, found out who Christ was, got saved,
and said, well, you know, I owe him my life.
I like to think that because that's the case
for every single one of us that have gotten saved.
We owe Christ our lives.
Look, you don't owe your life to this church.
You don't owe your life to some preacher.
You owe your life to Jesus Christ.
That's who you owe your life to.
Why should we be zealous of good works?
Because that's what Christ wants for us.
You know, and I don't think he's,
I don't think he's out of line and asking for that.
Be zealous of good works.
I don't know, maybe Barabbas joined the disciples.
Maybe at some point Barabbas saw the risen Christ.
Maybe Jesus came to him and had a private word with him.
You owe me everything.
You owe me your physical life.
You owe me your spiritual life.
And I bet Barabbas wasn't like, well, I guess, you know,
I didn't ask for it.
You think that's how his attitude was?
No, I bet he was, say, of course, absolutely.
Just tell me what to do.
I want to serve you.
I love you.
You know, one of the biggest reasons
people never get zealous, never get serious
about the things of God is because they don't love God.
They don't love God.
They appreciate God.
They're glad they're saved.
They love salvation.
But if we're going to serve God and be zealous of good works,
we have to learn to love God.
That's where it ought to come from.
Look, you have every reason in the world to love God.
I mean, if I came and redeemed you,
if you saved my life, I'd love you.
And look, I already love you, right?
But here's the thing, you know,
it just seems like a natural reaction.
If anyone did that, that's how we would feel.
But that's exactly what God has done for us if we're saved.
Why aren't we zealous of good works?
Maybe we don't appreciate what we have in Christ.
Maybe we don't appreciate the salvation.
Maybe we don't love God like we should.
I like verse 15.
These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority.
Let no man despise thee.
I wish that preacher had quit preaching
about that holy living.
I wish he'd quit preaching against my sin.
I wish he'd quit preaching for sobriety.
I wish he'd quit preaching against fornication.
I wish he'd quit preaching against all this sin.
Hey, you know what?
That's what we're charged to do with all authority.
These things speak, what things?
That we are to live godly in Christ Jesus.
That we have been redeemed to be a peculiar people
and to be zealous of good works.
That's what we're here to do.
And that's what I'm here to preach.
That's what I'm supposed to be preaching.
These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority.
You know, it's a rebuke if you're not doing it.
It's only an rebuke if you're guilty of it.
Let no man despise thee.
You know, if you come here, I'm going
to preach some things that are going to step on your toes,
because I'm just preaching the Bible.
I don't go out of my way to make people squirm.
I don't go out of my way to upset people.
I don't have to.
The Bible will just do that, right?
And I like how he ends that.
Let no man despise thee.
Don't let any man despise you or think ill of you.
And I like that, because that's exactly what people do.
You preach the Bible, and it lands on someone's toes.
They start hating the preacher, as if I came up with this,
as if I wrote the Bible.
It's like, look, if I preach something that you don't like,
and if it's from the Bible, look,
if I get up and preach my opinion, and you disagree,
and you don't like it, if I just get in the flesh
and start preaching for doctrines,
the commandments of men, go ahead and despise me, OK?
Because that's warranted.
Maybe not.
Maybe what I'm saying is still right,
and you should just accept it as the truth.
But look, if I'm preaching the Bible,
and you have a problem with it, and you despise me over it,
your problem's not with me.
I don't care what you say in the car ride home.
I don't care what's said later, and how much you hate me
and despise and hate my guts for what I said.
If what I said is chapter and verse out of the word of God,
your problem's not with me, it's with God.
That's the truth.
That's why he's saying, don't let any man despise you.
If they don't like the fact that God has redeemed us and taught
us to deny worldly lust, to deny ungodliness,
to live righteously, to live soberly in this present world,
if they don't like it, the fact that Christ
has given himself a ransom for all to redeem
unto himself a peculiar people's zeal of good works,
if they don't like these things,
if they despise you over it, Titus,
their problem is with the Lord and not with you.
And look, I don't think God is out of line
asking us to be a peculiar people,
God asking us to be as zealous of good works.
Why?
Because he gave himself for us.
I don't know that anybody probably
had to twist Barabbas' arm to get him to serve God.
If he did, we don't know.
I know, and that's just conjecture.
But is that really that far-fetched
to think that maybe he felt like he owed Christ his life?
Whether he did or did not, that is exactly the case
with me and you.
If you want to go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 6,
1 Corinthians chapter number 6, this
is something that the Bible just repeats over and over,
that we are redeemed.
And as such, because of that, we are indebted to Christ
to serve him with our lives.
Not for salvation, but because we are not our own.
That's what it says here in 1 Corinthians chapter 6.
Look at verse 18.
Flee fornication.
Every sin that a man doeth is without the body,
but he that commiteth fornication
sinneth against his own body.
What?
Know ye not that your body is the temple
of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God,
and ye are not your own?
People say, no, it's OK to live in fornication.
No, the Bible says, actually, it's not,
and that you are not your own.
Well, why can't I live in fornication?
Why can't I go out and commit fornication?
Because your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost
which you have of God.
OK?
When you got saved, God gave you the Holy Ghost.
And now your body, as the Bible is teaching,
is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Spirit dwells within you as a believer.
That's a profound thing to think about.
That everywhere you go, the Holy Spirit's with you.
Everything you do, the Holy Spirit is there with you.
Wherever that body of yours is, wherever
you drag that carcass, whatever you do with it,
the Holy Spirit's there.
And you're the temple of the Holy Spirit
which you have of God.
How did you get the Holy Spirit, folks?
God gave that to you in salvation.
He gave you the Holy Spirit.
That was part of the package, it was a great deal.
But people don't like this last part,
and ye are not your own.
Well, it's my life to do whatever I want with it, wrong.
You're wrong.
If you, as God's child, are sitting out there today,
if you're saved, you're saying, well, it's my life,
I can do whatever I want, you're wrong.
It's my body, I can treat it however I want, you're wrong.
And don't despise me.
That upsets you.
That's what the Bible says.
I mean, did we just not read it?
Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price.
What do you mean I have to live godly and soberly and righteous?
What do you mean I have to flee fornication?
What do you mean I have to live a godly life
and not to the lust of men and lust of the world
and the lust of the flesh?
Why do I have to do that?
Because you're bought with a price.
What do you mean I'm not my own?
You've been bought with a price.
And I think if people would dwell on that part more,
the fact that they've been redeemed
by the blood of Christ, that they've
been redeemed by God through his sacrifice,
the part about them not being their own
would come a lot easier.
Look, I'm glad I'm not my own.
I'm glad to be Christ's.
I'm glad to be redeemed.
I'm glad to be the temple of the Holy Ghost that dwells in me,
which is given to me of God.
I'm glad for that.
I'm glad that I no longer have to live
this life to the lust of the flesh and the lust of men.
I'm glad that I can live a sober and righteous
and godly life in Christ.
That's a privilege.
That's not some burden to be born.
Look, I understand it's not always easy.
I understand with people, when we
have habits and addictions and patterns and things like that,
it can be a struggle.
But it's something that can be conquered.
It's something we can have victory in.
And we can live a life that is pleasing to God
and is blessed by God.
Look, that's on the table for everybody.
Every single child of God has the ability
to be blessed by God in their life,
to have the peace of God, the joy, all of it,
the fruits of the spirit, the blessing of God in their life.
God just opening doors, closing doors, making ways,
God providing, God blessing.
That's available to every single one of us.
That's what it means when we're not our own.
We're God's child.
We've been redeemed.
We're bought with a price.
Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit,
not just your spirit, not just your mind, your heart,
but in your flesh as well, which are God's.
God owns it all.
God owns the flesh.
God owns the spirit.
God owns the body.
It's all his.
He gets it all.
Well, I don't know about that.
Well, go tell it to Barabbas.
I bet Barabbas would agree this morning.
If not, he should.
He certainly should agree that he was redeemed just like us.
Last passage, go to 1 Peter chapter number 1.
1 Peter chapter number 1.
If we'd let this sink in, and we would dwell on this,
that not just that we're redeemed,
but think about the cost of that redemption.
Because a lot of times, I think, many people think about salvation
just in terms of the fact that they believe the Bible
and they got saved.
They believe the story.
They believe the gospel.
But we need to really let it sink in exactly what that means,
that Christ gave himself a ransom for all,
that Christ died for our sins.
I don't know how to make it more real to people.
I don't know how to emphasize it to the degree to which it deserves
to be emphasized in people's minds.
I don't know how to do it.
But if you read the Bible, it's there.
This is a good passage, maybe to that end.
Look at verse 18 of 1 Peter chapter 1.
For as much as you know that you are not
redeemed with corruptible things,
as silver and gold from your vain conversation
received by tradition of your fathers,
you weren't redeemed by those things.
Verse 19, what were you redeemed by?
But with the precious blood of Christ.
And that's what people say.
When people are saying, well, I don't
want to live the Christian life.
I don't want to glorify God in my body.
I don't want to glorify God in my flesh.
I don't want to glorify God in my mind and my spirit.
What you're saying is that the blood of Christ
does not warrant that.
My sin is more precious to me.
I'm more endeared to my sin than the blood of Christ.
Why should I serve God with my life?
Why should I live soberly, righteous, godly
in this present world?
Because of the blood of Christ.
Because of the, excuse me, the precious blood of Christ.
Nobody else's blood is going to do it for you, folks.
Nobody else's blood can be shed to redeem you
from your sin and your iniquity.
Only Christ could have done that.
The precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish,
who verily was foreordained for the foundation of the world,
was manifest in these last times for you.
For you.
The precious blood of Christ was shed for you.
And sometimes you think, oh, yeah, it's forever.
And that's true, it's forever, but we
need to let it hit home that it was shed for us.
For you.
Look, if you're saved, Christ knows who you are.
He knows you by name.
Bible says even the very hairs of your head are numbered.
He knows how many hairs are on your head.
I mean, he knows everything about you.
And he redeemed you, and he saved you,
and he shed his precious blood for you.
I don't think it's much for him to ask when he says,
because I died for you, that you lived for me.
That's not a big ask.
And we need to put ourselves in the position of Barabbas
this morning and think about what that guy must
have felt when he got set free.
I like to think that he got right with God
and got saved and served God with his life,
because that's really what all of us should be doing.
If you got saved, you know what, you got set free.
Christ came and took your place.
You were guilty.
You deserve to go to hell.
Christ came, died for your sins.
He went to hell.
You know, it's every time.
I've said it before, but it's such an amazing thought.
Christ has spent more time in hell than I ever will.
I'll never dip a toe in hell.
And Christ spent three days and three nights there.
Christ has suffered the torments of hell.
I won't even smell it.
I won't even be there.
I'll never set foot in hell because of what he did,
because of the precious blood of Christ.
Then when he says, you know, that being the case,
that you are now the temple of the Holy Spirit as a result,
and you got to glorify God in your body,
I say, what a privilege.
Teach me the will of God.
What is it that I need to do?
What is it that I need to not do?
What do I need to fix?
What I need to get right?
I'll do it, because I'm not my own.
And look, I'm glad to not be my own this morning.
I'm glad to be able to say, I am Christ's.
I belong to the Lord.
I've been redeemed.
That's not, you know, some grueling taskmaster.
The Bible says, you know, his commandments are not grievous.
It's not a grievous thing to come to church
and hear the preaching of the word of God and ought not be.
It's not a grievous thing to read the Bible
and have the Holy Spirit speak to you.
It's not a grievous thing to go out and preach the gospel
and see people get saved.
It's not a grievous thing to get sin out of our life.
You know, sin, it just brings all kinds of problems with it.
You know, what's so grievous about giving up sin?
I know that sin has pleasure.
There's a pleasure of sin for a season.
But you know what?
The end of it's death.
The end of it's sorrow.
The end of it's woe.
The end of it's shame.
The end of it's grief.
The end of it's guilt. Nothing good comes out of it.
And Christ says, well, you don't have to live that way anymore.
You can live for me.
That's a privilege.
His commandments are not grievous.
He said, take my yoke upon you.
Why?
My burden is easy and my yoke, excuse me, my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.
It's the world and the devil that has that heavy yoke.
They're the taskmaster.
They're the ones that want to drive us in the ground.
They're the ones that are going to tear us down.
Christ is there to lift us up and set us upon a rock.
He's redeemed us.
So that's my message this morning.
Barabbas is a great picture, yes.
You can apply it to the devil.
I think that's valid.
But I think what's more applicable, what actually
has a greater impact on God's people,
is when we see that we are a Barabbas in the story.
Barabbas is me and you.
Condemned, guilty, bound, and had Christ not come along,
that would have been it for us.
It would have been us on that cross.
It would have been Barabbas the hanging between those two
thieves.
But Christ gave himself a ransom for all.
And we have been redeemed by the precious blood of the lamb
as without blemish and without spot.
And it's nothing for Christ to ask that we henceforth
live for him as the temples of the Holy Ghost.
Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer.
Lord, thank you again for salvation.
Thank you for the grace that was given to us.
Thank you for the privilege, Lord,
to be able to live a life that is pleasing to you.
And Lord, I pray you'd help every single one of us
to examine ourselves in the light of the scripture.
And Lord, if there's things in our lives that
need to change, things that need to be taken away,
things that need to be added, Lord,
help us to do those things joyfully.
Help us to do those things which are always pleasing to you.
We ask in Christ's name, amen.
All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song
before we are dismissed this morning.
All right, if you could please grab your handles
and turn to song number 66.
We'll be singing song number 66 at Calvary.
Again, that is song number 66.
At Calvary, again, that is song number 66.
One day there was often cried to me
when I heard the storm that we'd learned to let go of me.
Like a thunderstorm straight I heard,
then when I traveled at the fall I swerved
till I knew for sure we'd turn to Calvary.
Sing it out loud.
Mercy, there was great grace on the street.
I remember as long as it cried to me
when I heard the storm that we'd learned to let go of me.
Oh, the news of Jesus' land.
Oh, the gifts that brought him down to men.
Oh, the life of a godly man at Calvary.
Mercy, there was great grace on the street.
Oh, there was also cried to me when I heard the storm that
we'd learned to let go of me.
Now I hear from Jesus every day.
Now I'm glad we don't lose my people.
Now I'm glad she's moving on this street.
Oh, Calvary, here's Calvary strong.
Mercy, there was great grace on the street.
Oh, there was great grace on the street.