["Pomp and Circumstance"]
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those are really the motivations of the Jews in order to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ. Now flip on
over to Luke chapter 23 and look down at verse number one. Luke 23 and verse one. I'd like you
to notice the second the second court hearing the second judgment in which we see the Lord
Jesus Christ the first one we saw him we saw Jesus before the council of the Jews there in
luke 22 versus 66 or 71 and we titled that the unbelieving antagonist the second time we see him
standing before a court i'm using that term loosely but he's being judged and he's going to
be sentenced we see him standing before Pontius Pilate and if you're taking notes and you'd like
a title for this heading you could title it this the unwilling accomplice for the Jews we saw that
they were the unbelieving antagonist luke 22 verses 66 through 71 for Pontius Pilate we see
in luke 23 verses 1 through 7 that he is the unwilling accomplice i want you to notice what
the bible says here in luke 23 and verse 1 the bible says and the whole multitude of them arose
and led him unto Pilate so they had their day in court and and you've got to understand the
reasons for this of course the when jesus stood before the council of the jews that was done
before the society and the culture of the jewish people but these people the jews are under the
authority of the roman empire so now they must go from their court and take it into the roman court
which is why the bible tells us they have now led jesus onto Pontius Pilate luke 23 verse 1
and the whole multitude of them arose and let him unto pilot verse 2 and they began to accuse
him saying we found this fellow perverting the nations and forbidding to give tribute to caesar
and again you see the conspiracy here because when dealing with the jews they brought up the
accusations that the jews would have cared about they're asking art thou the christ art thou the
son of god when they bring him to Pontius Pilate they don't bring him to pilot and say this guy's
saying he's the christ this guy's saying he's the son of god they don't bring that accusation what
they say to Pontius Pilate is we found this fellow perverting the nations and forbidding to give
tribute to caesar now first of all that is a complete lie jesus actually is famously quoted
as saying render therefore unto caesar the things which are caesars and and we saw that even in luke
chapter 20 but they are trying to get a reaction from Pontius Pilate so they come to him and they
say we found the soul of preventing the nations and forbidding to give tribute to caesar notice
the last part of verse 2 saying that he himself is christ a king here now we see a third title
so in luke 22 we saw the question art thou the christ we saw the question art thou the son of
god now here in luke 23 there's another question that will be asked and it is art thou the king of
the jews look at verse 3 and pilot asked him saying art thou the king of the jews and the
question that i have for these people is well which one is it i mean when you get arrested
and you get summoned before a court aren't you supposed to be clearly told what you're being
charged for he shows up to to one court day and they're asking about are you the messiah are you
the son of god then he gets transferred to another now the questions are about uh art thou the king
and which one is it are you arresting him because he's a king are you arresting him because he's the
son of god are you arresting him because he's a messiah and the question is this they're arresting
him because they hate god and they don't really want truth here they want to pressure pilot into
doing what they want so they take him to pilot they say we found this fellow preventing nations
and forbidding to give tribute to caesar saying that he himself is christ the king
and pilot asked him saying art thou the king of the jews and he answered and said
i like how he answers just like he answered the jews thou says it if you say so
and and the idea is this that you don't randomly act you don't just walk up to people and ask them
are you the king of the jews you don't just randomly we're talking about first century israel
you would just randomly stop a guy on the street and say are you the king of the jews
are you the messiah are you the christ are you the son of god these are the times of the types
of things that if somebody is saying about you that's a king if somebody is saying about you
i think that might be the messiah if somebody is saying about you i think i think there might be
more to this guy than meets the eye i don't think he's a normal man like you and i i think he might
be the son of god if somebody is saying that jesus is pointing out that must be for a reason because
i'm not telling you that but you are keep asking me these questions and the answer to the question
is if you say so i'll say is it look verse four then said pilot to the chief priests and to the
people i find no fault in this man pilot was no one's errand boy pilot was not
an idiot pilot was the governor of judea the governor of what we would call the southern
kingdom of israel he did not get to that position of leadership and power by being
manipulated by being distracted by not being able to perceive and see things and what we learn
about pilot is that pilot has the keen insight to know that jesus is an innocent man and we also
know from the other gospel writings that that pilot is aware of the fact that the jews are
motivated by envy pilot is very aware of the fact that jesus has done nothing wrong and that the
only reason he's being put to death is because he's got bigger crumbs and he's got bigger
crowds because he's got more love and he has more influence from the people than the scribes
then the pharisees then the chief priests then the sageses pilot has the keen insight to know
that jesus is innocent and the jews are motivated by envy so he declares after just a quick
conversation a brief conversation with the jews and with jesus he asks a question he gets the
answer and he declares rightly so i find no fault in this man
the problem with pilot is not exactly the same but it is similar to the problem that the jews have
it is not information the problem the jews have was not that they were wondering is this really
the christ the son of the living god they understood that he was the christ
the son of the living god and they wanted to disprove it the problem with pilot was not
the information he could see clearly what was happening here the problem with a pilot
was his character and integrity he did not have a problem of information he had a problem of
integrity and to his credit he tries he tries to take care of this issue without having to take a
stand pilot has the keen insight to know that jesus is innocent and the jews are motivated by envy
and pilot has enough subtlety intact because remember he did not get to the place that he is
by being simple he's got enough subtlety he's got enough discretion he's got enough tact to try to
find a loophole to get himself out of this situation because pilot does not want to put
jesus to death he does not want to uh put an innocent man to death so what does he do look at
verse five and they were the more fierce saying he stirred up the people teaching throughout all
jewelry beginning from galley to this place and when pilot heard of galley and i can see this
because it's interesting in leadership sometimes you find yourself in these situations where you're
kind of talking through and of course pilot is being evil here but uh even in in a righteous
situation sometimes you're talking through things with people and you're just kind of confused and
you're not sure what is the right thing to do here i'm not sure that i'm getting all the all
the facts i'm not sure that i even understand the situation and then the more you talk to people and
the more you get out of them then you you hear something you're like aha i can i can latch on
to that okay i think i i know where we can go now and this is the situation with pilot he's
has this dilemma he's got the jews who are the ones that are his people that he governs over
they're very upset about this jesus of nazareth and they want him put to death but pilot does not
want to put jesus to death pilot being a roman and the roman culture is a culture for whatever
it's worth they've had some laws and some sense of justice in fact some of the laws that we have
today in the united states of america which are not mostly very good but we've got some good laws
and they were even adopted from the roman empire and as a roman pilot would have had a disdain
for simply putting someone to death who did not deserve it so he's got this dilemma
he he wants to please the jews but he does not want to crucify an innocent man and as he hears
them arguing and he hears their shouting verse five and they were the more fierce saying he
stirred up the people teaching throughout all jewelry and this is the jews they're saying
he's stirring up the people in all jewelry meaning all judia and they said beginning from
galilea i remember galley is in the northern kingdom of israel if you've got the kingdom of
israel you've got the northern part which is galley and you've got the southern part which
is judah and and the jews and their ravening and in their uh and and their accusations they say
yeah he started up in galley and he's came down to judia and he's riled up all the people here
in in judia verse six and when pilot heard of galley he asked whether the man were a galilean
and as soon as he knew that he belonged unto harrod's jurisdiction he sent him to harrod
who himself also was at jerusalem at the time so we got pilot here who's a pretty smart guy
has no character has no integrity has no backbone but he sees a loophole he says wait a minute wait
wait you wait what'd you say oh well he started in galley he he's from galley oh well if he's
from galley then maybe i should send it up to harrod that's harrod's territory
that's harrod's jurisdiction and harrod happens to be in town
verse seven as soon as they knew that he belonged into harrod's jurisdiction he sent to him
harrod who himself also was at jerusalem at the time
now we know and you know the story that pilot will eventually sentence jesus to death
but he is an unwilling accomplice he doesn't want to do it
here's a takeaway from our friend pilot it is this that power and authority talent and ability
intelligence resources without moral fortitude are useless
you you you say i'm pretty smart well i'm glad you're smart but make sure you're honest too
well i i i've got a lot of talent well i'm glad you talented but make sure you're not deceptive
all right if you knew the the things that are the power and the resources the authority that
i have well praise the lord pilot he wasn't a smart he wasn't a dumb guy he was a smart guy
he got to a place of position for a reason he knew how to talk to people he knew how to deal
with people he knew how to get out of making decisions that would make him unpopular pilot
had a lot going for him well what pilot did not have going for him was that he could not look a
man in the eye and tell the truth and say no i'm not going to do this the only reason you
practice man is because you're envious and you're petty and you're evil i'm not going to put that's
what pilots should have done so what we learned from pilot is that power and authority without
moral fortitude is nothing which is why i don't get as excited as some of you do about the
politicians oh well they're smart yeah but they're crooked oh well they got all this talent
but they have no integrity
so pilot uses a loophole he bypasses the hard job of a leader which is sometimes to say no
no no i'm not going to crucify him no i'm not going to cave into you no i'm not going to cave
into your pressure you're wrong we're not going to do this i'm going to let him go you're going
to let him go that's what pilot should have done but instead he finds a way to kick the can down
the road he finds a way to bypass true judgment and he sends jesus on his way to his third
court hearing in one day notice it there in verse 8 i said number one we saw in luke 22
verses 6 or 71 we saw the unbelieving antagonist jesus before the council of the jews and then in
luke 23 verses 1 through 7 we saw the unwilling accomplice jesus before ponchos pilot in verses
8 through 12 we see the unconvinced agitator jesus before harrod the tetrarch
why don't you notice that harrod was an interesting character and i don't have time to
go into the entire issue with harrod but let me just say this he's known as harrod he's known
in many different ways king harrod harrod antipas and harrod the tetrarch the word tetrarch means
one of four or of a fourth part kind of the same word where we get the name for the game tetris
because that's the only way to connect it for some of you and the idea is that the roman empire was
obviously the world empire at this time and it was the empire that ruled the world but the roman
empire allowed different nations who were tributaries to exist underneath the umbrella
of the roman empire of course they all answered to caesar and they all paid tribute to caesar and
the nation of israel in that area had been divided into four different sections and two of the
sections were the southern kingdom of israel and the northern kingdom of israel otherwise known as
judia and galilee ponchos pilot was the governor who was a roman he had been uh given the commission
to be the governor over the southern kingdom of israel harrod would have been more like a local
king not a jew but a king in that area who was given authority over the northern kingdom of israel
and he is though a king quote unquote he's not really a king because he's
loyal to caesar he pays tribute to caesar and he uh has to follow the commands of caesar
harrod if you remember from our study in the gospel of luke is interested in christianity
look at luke 23 and verse 8 and when harrod saw jesus because remember they took him from the
council of jews to ponchos pilot then they take him from ponchos pilot to harrod and when harrod
saw jesus he was exceeding glad the bible says he was exceeding glad for he was desirous to see him
of a long season jesus is somewhat of a celebrity at this point and harrod who was the leader the
king of galilee the northern kingdom of israel where jesus had done most of his ministry and
most of his miracles would have of course become familiar with the ministry of christ and though
he'd never actually met him or seen him he was the bible tells us desirous to see him uh of a
long season because he had heard many things of him and he hoped to have seen some miracle done
by him harrod is approaching jesus as a show he's heard of these miracles and he's hoping he can see
one he's exceeding glad because he was desirous to see jesus so we see that jesus is taken to
harrod and harrod has an interest in christianity and i don't want to spend a lot of time on this
but let's spend a little bit of time on it because harrod is a character that came up several times
already in the gospels let's look at it through the gospel of luke go back to luke chapter 9
luke chapter 9 harrod this already knows who jesus is not met him yet he's meeting him now
when harrod first heard of jesus he was both confused and intrigued you remember that luke
9 verse 7 now harrod the patriarch heard of all that was done by him referring to jesus and he
was perplexed the word perplexed means he was confused why was he confused because that it was
said of him that john was risen from the dead some people were saying about jesus that he was
john risen from the dead if you remember jesus asked the disciples who do men say that i am
and they gave all sorts of different names that people thought jesus was where he was one of the
prophets and he was elijah and one of the names one of the rumors was that jesus was john the
baptist risen from the dead now this perplexed harrod because of the fact verse 8 and of some
that elias had appeared and of others that one of the old prophets was risen again verse 9 and
harrod said john have i beheaded but who is this of whom i hear such things and desire to see him
harrod was both confused and intrigued when he heard about jesus because of the fact that some
said that jesus was john risen from the dead and headed harrod was intrigued because of the fact
that john had been beheaded by harrod look at luke chapter 3 and verse 19 luke chapter 3 and
verse 19 why is it that harrod beheaded john luke 3 19 but harrod the tatriarch being reproved
is that word reproved that's a negative word being reproved meaning he was told hey you're doing
something wrong but harrod the tatriarch being reproved by him being reproved by who john the
baptist john the baptist was the type of preacher that not only preached about the culture and
society but he preached against the current political leaders and harrod was one of them
what did john preach for Herodias his brother's uh phillips wife and for all the evils which
harrod had done harrod had done evil he's a wicked man and he had also stolen his brother
phillips wife and john the baptist called him out on this this is why i think it's funny when people
will criticize why do you guys got to preach about politics why do you got to preach about what's
going on in the news why why can't you just stick to the gospel why do you have to preach about
current events and politicians and what they're doing wrong why can't you just be like uh in the
new testament i think myself have you ever read the new testament they crucified john they they
they cut off john's head because he was preaching against the political leader of his time for
committing adultery but harrod the tatriarch being reproved by him for Herodias his brother
phillips wife and for all the evils which harrod had done added yet this above all that he shut
up john in prison now again to harrod's credit he initially throws john into prison
look at um and i won't take the time to go let's go to luke 13 but of course through different
events he is pressured to cut off john's head and he does it at the request of a woman
in luke 13 and verse 31 we see the next appearance of harrod in
the gospel of luke and it is this that when jesus finds out that harrod put john to death
he doesn't have much of a liking for harrod in fact in luke 13 and verse 31 the bible says this
the same day there came certain of the pharisees saying unto him these are the pharisees coming to
jesus and they're saying to jesus get thee out and depart hands for harrod will kill thee
now the pharisees themselves want to kill jesus so it's funny that they're
warning jesus that harrod wants to kill him whether this is true or not we don't know
i presume that harrod did want to kill him and the pharisees were simply warning jesus because
they wanted to get rid of him but they come to jesus and they tell jesus get thee out and depart
hands for harrod will kill thee john has already been killed by harrod now they're trying to
scare jesus into leaving and saying look john's already been put to death and harrod said he's
going to kill you look at verse 32 and he jesus said unto them the pharisees about harrod who
their warning is going to kill jesus and notice his response he says go ye and tell that fox
now i'm not exactly sure what that means but i imagine it's not it's not a compliment
he says go ye and tell that fox because remember they said hey get out of here get thee out and
depart hands for harrod will kill thee and he said unto them go ye and tell that fox behold
i cast out devils and i do cures today and tomorrow and the third day i shall be perfected
nevertheless i must walk today and tomorrow and the day falling for it cannot be that a
prophet perisheth out of jerusalem they come to jesus and they say hey get out of town harrod's
going to kill you and jesus says you tell that fox i'll be here today i'll be here tomorrow
i'll be here the next day it'll be uh it'll be services as usual and jesus was not intimidated
by harrod jesus was not going to cower down to harrod jesus said i will be here until i'm ready
to leave so we see that jesus was not intimidated by harrod and now he's taken before harrod
for judgment look at luke 23 verse 9 then he does of course harrod
questioned with him in many words but he jesus answered him nothing
now this is slightly different than jesus before the council of the jews the unbelieving antagonist
and before the ponchos pilot the unwilling accomplice though he didn't say much to them
he did say some things he said you're going to see the son of man sitting at the right hand
of the father they asked him art thou the christ art thou the son of god and he says
if you say so pilot asked him art thou the king of the jews and he said if you say so
but when he gets to harrod he says nothing but he answered him nothing verse 10 and the chief priest
of the crieth stood and vehemently accused him and harrod with his men of war notice what the
bible says set him at naught so it seems like harrod loses his patience and when he's not
getting the respect and he's not getting the feedback from jesus that he expected remember
he was first excited that jesus was coming he was hoping that he could talk to him maybe get jesus
to perform a miracle this could have been a good thing for jesus i mean all jesus had to do was
come in shake a few hands take a few pictures do a few miracles and he could have gone on his way
but instead jesus refuses to talk to harrod and as a result harrod the bible tells the verse 11
and harrod with his men of war set him at naught that phrase set him at naught means to treat as
unimportant to treat as as something that is of little value set him at not notice and mocked him
and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him again to pilot we see the character of harrod
no better than the men of war we saw in the previous chapter he begins to mock jesus
and to beat jesus he arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him again to pilot and the same
day pilot and harrod were made friends together for before they were at enmity between themselves
so we see jesus here before this unconvinced agitator
because harrod had his chance harrod could not say i don't know who jesus is
i've never heard about jesus i've never heard harrod was not only very familiar with jesus
he was very familiar with the predecessor of jesus john the baptist in fact he knew about
john the baptist in john baptist ministry so well and he was so acquainted with the preaching of
john that he put him to death and harrod had already had his chance harrod had already heard
the truth harrod had an opportunity to get saved and to get right under john he'd already heard
of jesus he'd already heard people say hey this might be john resurrected again harrod had had
time and time and time to get right time to believe and what we learn and the takeaway from
this court hearing is that jesus believed what we believe maybe i should say that differently
we believe what jesus believed but the bible already has taught that there are some people
who are given opportunities and when they reject those opportunities eventually those people
lose the opportunity and become what we call a reprobate apparently harry was one of these
reprobates because what we learn from jesus and what we learn in this look he's talking to the
jews and look we we can spend so much time on this and i'm not going to one of these days i'm
going to preach a whole series just called the enemies of jesus and we'll go through and just
look at all the villains that jesus dealt with but if you study jesus with the council of the jews
if you study jesus and we only looked at it from the gospel of luke but if we went through all the
the gospels and looked at it jesus had these conversations with them i mean he's even rebuking
them and and they're saying as is thou the high priest so and jesus is just you know it's
interesting because jesus talks back to the high priest and they say to him answer is thou the high
priest so and he just responds with a smart aleck response paul in the book of acts has a similar
situation where he mounts off to the high priest not knowing that it was the high priest they say
to him answer is thou the high priest so and paul apologizes you say well which one was right well
they're both right because paul at that time was under the authority of the high priest in in a in
a cultural sense and therefore apologized for disrespecting the high priest jesus does not
apologize for disrespecting the high priest because jesus is the high priest because jesus
is because jesus outranked the chief priest and the point that i'm making is that jesus had this
conversation back and forth with the council of the jews the unbelieving antagonist jesus if you
look at the stories in the other gospels had this back and forth with pilot these long conversations
where pilot says what is the truth and ask these questions of jesus and pilot's wife comes in and
says i had these dreams and you need to let this man go these conversations and jesus tells pilot
that that that that those that delivered him unto him have the greater sin he tells pilot that you
have no power if it had not been given to you from heaven and again we could take the time to break
all that down and learn from it but the point that i'm making is this jesus talked extensively
to the jews he talked extensively to pilot but when he gets to harry he says nothing
harry is the only one that wants to talk to jesus he's the only one that wants to see a miracle from
jesus but jesus says nothing what's the takeaway here's the takeaway some people are not worth
talking to there are some people say well you guys preach against the reprobates the sodomites
why don't you preach the gospel to everyone like jesus or really like jesus because there
are some people jesus didn't talk to there are some people jesus he said oh this is harry he's
had his chance right he's done he's a reprobate i have nothing to say to you and harry proves
how much of a reprobate he is by just instantly going from intrigued to mocking
excited to hurting
he raised him in a gorgeous robe and sent him again to pilot
on the same day pilot and harry were made friends together
for before they were at enmity between themselves
look at verse 13 we're going to finish this up we're just going to look at a few more
verses and we'll be done we're looking at the judgments of jesus in luke 22 63 to 65 we saw
the soldiers mocking him in verses 66 or 71 we saw jesus before the council of the jews
the unbelieving antagonist in verses 1 through 7 of luke 23 we saw jesus before ponchos pilot
the unwilling accomplice in luke 23 verses 8 through 12 we saw jesus before the before
harry the tate truck the unconvinced agitator i want you to notice in verses 13 through 15
we'll just do this quickly i'll just give this to you so you can get it for your notes and then you
can study it out later if you'd like in verses 13 through 15 we see jesus this is now if you're
taking notes we're in our conclusion we see jesus the sinless savior he goes back to pilot a second
time luke 23 13 and pilot when he had called together chief priests and the rulers of the
people said unto them he had brought this man unto me as one that perverted the people
and behold i having examined him before you have found no fault in this man touching those things
wherever you accuse him nor he says no nor yet harrod for i send you to him and look nothing
worthy of death is done unto him pilot is making this point that look you've examined him i told
you to deal with him in another gospel he told the jews you deal with him according to your law
they said we can't put him to death pilot says i haven't found any reason to put him to death
harrod hasn't found any reason to put him to death you say what is going on here why are these
stories in the bible i'm here to tell you something everything in the bible is in there
for a reason you don't have to turn there let me just read this for you this will kind of prep you
for sunday night when we talk about the passover and the lord's supper but in exodus chapter 12 in
verse 3 the bible says speak ye unto all the congregation of israel saying in the 10th day
of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb in the old testament in exodus 12 the
passover was established where they were supposed to take a lamb they were supposed to take the lamb
on the 10th day of the first month according to the house of the fathers a lamb for an house
in verse five we're told your lamb shall be without blemish a male of the first year you
shall take it out from the sheep or from the goat verse six says and you shall keep it until
the 14th day of the same month so they chose the lamb on the 10th day they kept it until the 14th
day and who and and the whole assembly of the congregation of israel shall kill it in the evening
what was the purpose of them choosing a lamb on the 10th day and keeping it until the 14th day
the purpose was for them to watch the lamb to examine the lamb to make sure that the lamb was
without blemish and the bible tells us that when jesus shows up onto the shores of galley
in the new testament and onto the shores of judia in the new testament that john the baptist looks
at him coming afar off and he says behold the lamb of god which taken the way the sins of the
world and what jesus is doing he is fulfilling the pack because jesus is our passover he is the
passover lamb and he is fulfilling the steps of the passover on the 10th day the lamb was to be
chosen this is represented by palm sunday when jesus enters into the city on a meal and he is
presented before the people and now we have seen him over the next several days he got arrested
he was examined by annas he was examined by kafis he was taken to the council of the jews he was
taken to ponchos pilot he was taken to harret i mean if you if they were they're trying to figure
out can we take him somewhere where someone will find him guilty and at the end of the whole thing
they said this lamb is without spot it's blameless it's sinless
you say what was the point of all these proceedings what was the point of all these
court hearings is so that it could be said without a shadow of a doubt that jesus truly was
the sinless savior pilot says i find no fault in him
then i want you to notice secondly and we'll finish this up in verses 16 to 25 in verses
13 through 15 we saw jesus a sinless savior in verses 16 to 25 we see jesus the substitutionary
sacrifice look at verse 16 this is what pilot says remember he's a coward i will therefore
chastise him and release him he says i find no fault in him i'll just chastise him and let him go
verses 17 for of necessity he must release one of them at the feast and john were told that he
had a custom that he should release unto one he would release one of the prisoners on passover
which is what's happening right now at this moment in in our passage verse 18
pilot says i'll just let him go i have to let go a prisoner anyway i'll just let him go he
hasn't done anything wrong and we'll all go on our merry way verse 18 and they cried out
all at once saying away with this man and release unto us barabbas here we have another character
enter the story i won't take the time to go through the passages but barabbas was a murderer
he was a thief and an insurrection he was in prison for reasons that would take him to the cross
the bible tells us here in luke 19 other gospels give us other details but here in verse 19 we're
told for a certain sedition made in the city and for murder was cast into prison
pilot 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 have 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 and the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed
and of the chief priests prevailed and pilot you can put next to verse 24 if you don't mind writing
in your bible you can put these words pilot caved in and pilot gave sentence that it should be as
they required and he released unto them him that first edition and murder was cast into prison
whom they had desired but he delivered jesus to their will
you and i could look at this from a secular perspective and think to ourselves what injustice
that jesus who had been brought through an entire array of courts they couldn't find anything to
charge him with they couldn't find anything he was guilty of he's an innocent man
but these jews said no no give us the murderer no no give us the insurrector no give us the
the guy that had been charged and sentenced and found guilty of sedition and murder and
being a robber give us that guy and you and i can look at it from the perspective of humanity and
say this is injustice and it was an injustice i will submit to you tonight and i think you
probably have already seen it this is actually just a beautiful illustration
of what jesus was doing not only for barabbas but for all
mankind allow me to read one verse to you first peter 318 you have to turn there
the bible says for christ also hath one suffered for sins the just for the unjust
that he might bring us to god being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit
see we see in the story of barabbas
that the innocent took the punishment and the guilty went free the just for the unjust
three crosses and one of them we could assume was meant for barabbas but instead jesus would die on
that cross and we don't know for sure but i i've i've got to wonder if barabbas it when when the
the jailer comes and and opens the door and says you're free to go and maybe i don't know if it
was back then like it is now i've never been arrested but some of you told me
i don't know if they handed him his change and handed him his wallet and gave him kind
of the things that he was arrested with and he and he comes out onto the street and he
and he sees all the commotion and a year and he begins to ask and he's wondering what what
what happened i mean i wouldn't ask too many questions about him if they opened the door
and they're saying go i'd go but i wonder if he got out on the street and he began to
hear about this jesus of nazareth
the barabbas understood what you and i should understand that he took my place
that he paid my debt see it's easy to look down on barabbas but the truth is this that you and i
are barabbas for christ also hath once suffered for six the just for the unjust
that he might bring us to god being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit
on sunday morning we will look at the crucifixion of christ and though it is very somber
we can rejoice in the fact that jesus laid down his life for us
not only was he the sinless savior but he was the substitutionary sacrifice
for our sins let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer
heavenly father
lord we thank you for these passages of scripture
and of course it's very fitting that we would be considering these things as we get close to easter
we will begin to have celebrations on the calendar
that are meant to remind us about the death the burial and the resurrection of the lord jesus christ
i don't know if barabbas understood it i'd like to think he did but i hope that every one of us
here tonight understands it that the just took the place of the unjust
he was our substitution for our sins and lord i pray that you would help us to now live for you
in the matchless name of christ we pray amen we'll have brother moses come up and lead us in the
amen we'll have brother moses come up and lead us in the final song just want to remind you
that there is no pe class tomorrow it's too cold and too wet and we're not trying to
keep people getting sick so no pe class tomorrow please make sure you make a note of that
and then of course i want to encourage you to be with us on sunday morning on the lord's day for
church and i want to encourage you to bring someone invite somebody to church with you
and of course we've got soul winning this weekend thursday friday saturday we'd love for you to join
us for any one of those times saturday morning i'll be preaching at the soul winning rally and
i'd love for you to be there as we begin to gear up for this easter season thinking about the
crucifixion of christ looking past the cross at the empty tomb we'll have brother moses come up
and lead us in a final song please in your song books page number 87
page number 87 we're gonna sing just when i need him most
page number 87 now if you know this song sing it out we don't sing it here that often
so if you know it sing it out let's sing it out on the first
just when i need him jesus is near just when i falter just when i fear ready to help me ready to
cheer just when i need him most just when i need him most just when i need him most jesus is here
to comfort and cheer just when i need him most let's sing it out on the second just when i need
him jesus is true never forsaking all the way through giving for burdens pleasures anew
just when i need him
most just when i need him most jesus is near to comfort and cheer just when i need him
just when i need him jesus is strong bearing my burdens all the day long
all my sorrow giving a song just when i need him just when i need him most just when i need him
most jesus is near to comfort and cheer just when i need him most let's sing it out on the last
just when i need him he is my all answering when upon him i call tenderly watching
lest i should fall just when i need him
just when i need him most just when i need him
jesus is near to comfort and cheer just when i need him
jesus is near to comfort and cheer just when i need him most great singing can i please
have brother joel usher close some word of prayer
so