Barabbas

Romans chapter 6 Romans chapter 6 well-known verse verse number 23 Romans 6 and 23 for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord gospel of Luke and chapter 23 Luke chapter 23 verse number 13 Luke 23 and 13 and Pilate when he had called together the chief priests and the elders and the people said unto them we have brought this man unto you as one that perverted the people and behold I having examined him before you have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him no nor yet Herod for I sent you to him and lo nothing worthy of death is done unto him I will therefore chasten him and release him or I will scourge him and release him for of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast and they cried out all at once saying away with this man and release unto us Barabbas who for sedition or an insurrection made in the city and for murder was cast into prison Pilate therefore willing to release Jesus spake again to them but they cried saying crucify him crucify him and he said unto them the third time why what hath he done I have find no I have found no cause of death in him I will therefore chasten him and let him go and they were instant with loud voices requiring that he might be crucified and the voices of them and of the chief priest prevailed and Pilate gave sentence that it may be as they required and he released unto them him for sedition and murder was cast into prison whom they had desired but he delivered Jesus to their will that's all I'm going to read this evening I have wondered before what it would be like to preach in a prison in front of men who were on death row and one day when I was reading a verse that I would almost guarantee everyone here knows by heart it hit me that I've done it before Romans 6 and 23 the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord there are people here in this audience today that are on death row and I'm not just talking about the fact that all will die it is appointed unto man once to die but then it says after this the judgment there are two lives you can either be born once your natural birth and then you can be born again there's two births you can have or there are two deaths the bible tells us in revelation that the books will be opened and another book will be open which is the book of life and those that are not found written in the lamb's book of life were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death there are some here in this audience that I'm speaking to tonight and if you don't get this matter of salvation settled you will have a second death you are on death row and it took my mind to a story of a man that so many times we we kind of brush over we know this story but it's kind of a passing part when we read the crucifixion the story of barabbas so I want to take just for a moment and maybe with your imagination just go with me just a little bit what barabbas must have faced what he must have been thinking here was a man who had been an insurrectionist he had turned against the government he had led a riot and on top of that he was a murderer and back then we didn't have they didn't have phrases like he was in a suspected he was suspected of murder even though caught red-handed we see that in our newspapers today he was suspected even though they catch him in the act back then if you were caught you were a murderer and it was pretty much a foregone conclusion what your judgment was going to be you would face death barabbas is captured he is sitting in a prison cell and I don't know how long he was sitting in that cell but let's say he was sitting in that cell for a week or two weeks and every day he would hear soldiers walking down the corridors of that prison getting closer and closer to the cell that he sat in and hearing men being drug out to face their fate and day after day he waited until one day he realized tomorrow is going to be my day but as he's sitting in his cell that day all of a sudden another man comes in and he'd heard other men be drug into this prison but this time this man was coming willingly he was brought into a cell and he wasn't screaming and cursing in fact he thought he maybe heard the name jesus and he thought I wonder this can't be the man that's been doing all these miracles in the cell next to me and as trials go on that day the two men are taken out in the cells before him to stand their trial and and they are condemned to go to a cross and to die and to be crucified and as the soldiers come walking down the corridors of that prison that day he thought I'm next but this time they passed him by and they went to the cell next to him and took this man called jesus of nazar and he walked willingly again not resisting his fate but willingly being led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shears was dumb so he opened out his mouth and I wonder if barabbas that day sitting in his cell as jesus is let out I wonder if he walked up to the bars of that cell door and maybe asked the soldier what's going on I thought I was facing trial today soldiers said not yet it's your lucky day and this is the one that we read about here in luke chapter 23 that's standing before pilot and standing before herod men of the world they looked at him and said I find no fault in this just man and so trying to wash his hands of the matter he says I will scourge him I will chasten him and I will set him free because pilot was getting fortunate here it was that time of the year where they would set a prisoner free he said this is this was probably the one time he didn't mind setting a prisoner free because I find no fault in him see back in that day if you go back and look at history when a man was scourged that was his punishment that was punishment enough and he was to be set free they were not normally scourged and then nailed to a cross the scourging was normally a punishment enough for a crime committed he was willing to scourge someone who he found no fault in just to wash his hands of it and so he could set him free and the cries of the people that day and I almost wonder if if where barabbas was locked up he could hear in the back he probably thought there's no way I know they when they crucify men they normally crucify him in groups of three there's no way this Jesus of Nazareth that I've heard about if that's really the Jesus that was next to me that he's gonna get crucified today I've never heard him of him do a single thing wrong surely they'll come back for me and he's gonna go free and I wonder if all of a sudden he heard echoing down the corridors of of that prison that day crucify him crucify him release unto us barabbas barabbas wasn't worthy to go free he was a murderer my friend tonight you are not deserving of sins forgiven I was not deserving of sins forgiven it's not because you have christian parents that tonight you somehow hold an edge to salvation it's not because you can quote john 3 and 16 it's not even that you know enough of the bible to know that other religions are wrong that will not take you to heaven that is not enough you're not that doesn't make you deserve salvation and barabbas hears the commotion going on and then he hears maybe pilot speak again he's still willing to release Jesus he spake to him again and said you know what I will I will scourge him and let him free and again the cry comes crucify him crucify him so 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 and barabbas walked free tonight's salvation is offered to you sins forgiven and a home in heaven but you got to take it I guarantee you when the soldiers came walking back down the corridors of that of that jail of that prison and they stomped in front of his door and the key rattled in the lock and the door swung open they probably braced for a fight my time's come and the soldier said you're free to go I don't think he had to be told twice I don't think barabbas said you know I rather enjoy it here I think I'll stay another day or two you're free to go maybe ask the question why they said well another took your place who Jesus of Nazareth he took your place the bible doesn't tell us but I can't help but imagine that barabbas when he was set free of that prison and that possession started to the hill of Golgotha the hill of a skull where the crucifixion of our savior was to be carried out I cannot imagine that he didn't follow I would even wonder if he didn't stand underneath the shadow of that cross to look into the face of the one who is dying in his place have you ever looked into the face of the one who has died in your place I don't think you can walk underneath the shadow of the cross not come away a changed man or a changed woman a changed boy or a changed girl remember remember the illustration that we have in Mr Bunyan's book Pilgrim's Progress when Christian that weary traveler comes to Calvary he finally gets to the cross and he stands there and the burden that was on his back rolled down the hill and into the open sepulcher it died with Christ and it was gone the wages of sin is death and that's what Barabbas deserved and that's what you deserve tonight I don't care how good a person you are all of our righteousness are filthy rags you deserve death and you're on death row standing there that day I wonder what Barabbas thought but you have to take it for yourself tonight it's not simply enough to know about him or to know who he is you will not someday just wake up in heaven because God loved you so much he died for you and and someday that means that all of you will be saved because there were two men that were crucified with him that day on either side of him the same opportunity was presented to them the exact same opportunity one one did nothing to do with him and reviled him and the other said Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom one called him Lord and acknowledged him Lord of my life you know I wonder what that would have been like because salvation is not of works you don't earn it throughout the course of your life it's not that your good will outweigh your bad and someday at the end of life that is what God will look at because that thief upon the cross that day his bad was so bad that he was being crucified for it he had no more time left to do good to outweigh his bad and from that time that he was upon the cross in the few hours that went on until his death there was not enough time to do good to outweigh the bad and yet when he opened his eyes where was he in paradise you ever wonder what that would have been like you know sometimes the illustration is given of of Peter meeting someone at the gates of heaven and asking why you should enter so let's go with that illustration for just a moment here is this thief upon the cross and he's in heaven and they say well why are you here he could give no reason other than what anyone here who knows their sins forgiven could give christ upon the cross said i can go you can have salvation tonight if you trust his word the wages of sin is death but i don't want to leave you there i don't want to leave you on death row but the gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ our lord eternal life him to know is life eternal if you know him you can have everlasting life and you can know you must know it is not enough to hope it is not enough to wonder first john the whole book leads up to one verse first john 5 and 13 these things have i written unto you that you may know that you have eternal life do you understand that there was one who suffered in blood and died on your behalf that when in that garden of gethsemane he prayed let this cup pass from me nevertheless not my will but thine be done when he sweat as it were great drops of blood he feared not what man were to do to him because there were men that had endured what he had endured at the hands of sinful men before he knew what he was have to endure at the hands of a righteous and a holy god when the unabated wrath of almighty god was poured out upon his son and god crushed his son beneath the load of our sin and so he died that you might live we have been hearing today about what it must be like to be in heaven and looking to the rapture and and what lies ahead of us and sometimes i get on youtube and i get going down rabbit holes i probably shouldn't go down but i stumbled across the video and thought i recognized some of the people in it so i clicked on it and it was a group of believers singing and they were singing at norman crawford's funeral some of you younger ones might not remember norman crawford but majority of us here probably still do and you know what song they were singing face to face with christ my savior face to face what will it be when with wonder i behold him jesus christ he died for me face to face in all his glory far beyond this veil of tears and i listened to him singing i thought what must it be like for mr crawford to stand in the presence of his savior and then i wondered what would it be like to have to stand before him and he's not your savior but he's your judge and he is a righteous judge and he is a judge of all the earth none shall escape him the dead small and great shall stand before him the ones that are in the sea shall stand before him most of us here in the audience today when we were listening to the rapture that is to come and what lies ahead of us we could sing tonight with smiles upon our faces face to face with christ my savior face to face what will it be but if you're not saved tonight what will it be to stand before almighty god at that great white throne should terrify you it should cause you to stop and think tonight why won't you flee to a savior for refuge tonight when he has died that you might live he died so that you can be free from the penalty and the punishment of your sin it was charles spurgeon who before he was saved as a young man one day was on his way to church and the snow was blowing so hard that he wasn't able to make it to the place he normally went so he turned down the side street of the city and stumbled into a small church and he sat down the normal pastor of that church wasn't there that day and so everyone sat quietly until as charles spurgeon says it a young or a a slender gentleman who he said was likely a shoemaker or someone of that trade stood up and he turned isaiah 45 and he read this verse look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth for i am god and there is none else he said he preached with all the fervor that he had every ounce of knowledge that he had upon that verse for about 10 minutes and then he stopped when he'd come to the end of what he knew to say he stopped and he said he looked at me he said there was a small group of people so he probably recognized me as a stranger he looked at me sitting under the balcony and he said young man you look of men the most miserable he said i probably did but i never been called out like that before and then that shoemaker that day looked at him and he says you can look and you can live brabus that day i think followed christ to the cross and i think he looked at the one who had saved him physically in this life i don't know brabus is going to be in heaven i'm not going to go there but he had physically saved him from death tonight he wants to save you spiritually from death the shoemaker went on to say this he said you don't have to be a genius to be able to look you don't have to be worth millions to be able to look you don't need a college degree to be able to look anyone can look look and live can i leave that with you at the close of this gathering tonight the close of this conference weekend look to the savior on calvary street see how he suffered for thee and for me hark will he lovingly calls to thee look and thou shalt live i want you to understand exactly where you stand before god tonight if you do not know your sins forgiven you stand on death row there is only one way of escape you must turn to the savior on calvary street the one who suffered and bled and died the one who after those three dark hours of agony declared i think the three greatest words in all of scripture it is finished he bowed his head and he died that you might live trust him tonight and know peace with god know a home in heaven and know freedom from the bondage of sin shall we pray