Easter 2

Matt. 27:15-26 "Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. 16 And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17 Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.

19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.”

20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”

They said, “Barabbas!”

22 Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?”

They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!”

23 Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?”

But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!”

24 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.”

25 And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”

26 Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified."

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The only reason we know the name Barabbas at all, is that Barabbas was scheduled to die on the same day that Jesus of Nazareth was arrested and tried and condemned to death...

Matthew 27:17-21 describes him as “a notorious prisoner.”

Mark 15:11 and Luke 23:18 go a little further, indicating he was among the rebels who had committed murder in the uprising against Rome.

John 18:40 calls him a “Bandit.”

Bottom line is: Barabbas was bad!

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The name “Barabbas” means “son of the Rabbi.”

So he may have been a PK, a preacher’s kid!

How a son from a devout home could end up condemned to the gallows is anyone's guess...

But somewhere there was a broken-hearted mom and dad who'd envisioned better things for their son!

While Jesus was being tried before Pontius Pilate, Barabbas lay chained in a condemned cell, fearful that every creak of footstep, every turn of a key might be the guard arriving to take him out to be executed by the most painful form of public execution known in human history.

But a bigger picture is painted here by the sovereign hands of Almighty God.

For when the paths of Barabbas and Jesus Christ crossed, the events that took place in the life of Barabbas present a picture of all mankind--of you and me today...

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So I want to talk today about how Barabbas is a type of all of us...

First,

He was condemned to die

Barabbas was under the sentence of death.

He had been tried and found guilty for robbery and murder, and the Governor himself had pronounced his sentence, and placed his seal on the signed death warrant.

There was nothing left but the doing of it.

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And just like Barabbas, all of mankind is under that same sentence of death--not to be hanged or crucified, but under sentence of spiritual and eternal death...

We're all condemned to die because we've all sinned.

Romans 3: 10-12 “No one is righteous—not even one. 11 No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. 12 All have turned away; all have become useless; No one does good, not a single one."

Romans 6:23 "The wages of sin is death."

We could put it this way: "The paycheck we receive after sinning is death..."

In Ezekiel 18:4 God declares, “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die."

That being true, we're all in trouble for "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Ro. 3:23).

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You say, "But Jeff, I'm not a bad person! I've never even gotten a traffic ticket!"

That may be true, but have you ever broken one of the 10 commandments?

Before you say no, let me ask you:

Have you ever lied? Lusted? Cursed? Gossiped? Cheated? Been greedy? Have you ever put something else before God? Have you ever disrespected your parents? How about wanting something somebody else had?

You see, if you've broken even one commandment, you are condemned to die in your sins.

In Deuteronomy 27 it says, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them.”

James wrote, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it" (James 2:10).

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Evangelist D. L. Moody once asked his congregation a question:

“If a man hangs over a cliff by a chain of 10 links, how many of those links must be broken in order to dash that man to his death?”

Well, the answer of course, is only ONE.

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If you want to be right before God by the keeping of the Law, then you must perfectly, and always, from your first breath until your last, keep that Law.

But no man or woman ever born is able to say that he kept God’s law perfectly and always--except Jesus Christ!

So, just as Barabbas was condemned to die that day, so are we because of our sins.

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Secondly, we see that...

II. Barabbas was given a substitute

Here's the deal: Because God is holy, He is also Just.

And God’s justice demands full payment for sin, and that full payment is death--"The soul that sins, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:20).

All the way back in the Garden of Eden, God warned the first couple, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die" (Gen. 2:17).

And the only way around you and I dying in our sins and going to a Christ-less eternity is for God to provide a substitute--someone to take the punishment for us, to be judged in our place, to take the rap for us!

And we see this very thing happen on Barabbas's final day--God mercifully provided a substitute!

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How Barabbas's stomach must have turned into knots as he one day heard the soldiers coming down the stone corridor, keys jangling, stopping at the door of his cell.

How stunned he must have been, when one of them said,

“Get out, and don’t let us see your face again. The Governor has freed you. Another will die in your place.”

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You see, Jesus really did die in Barabbas’ place that day, because God's will was for Christ to die that day in his (and in our) place.

Listen to this incredible claim from the Bible:

"When we were utterly helpless, with no way of escape, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners who had no use for him. 7 Even if we were good, we really wouldn’t expect anyone to die for us, though, of course, that might be barely possible. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners" (Ro. 5:6-8).

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It was either going to be Barabbas that day, or Jesus of Nazareth...

But according to God's eternal plan, Jesus literally became the substitute for the criminal Barabbas, and for us!

God chose Jesus to die for that criminal, and God chose Barabbas to be set free...

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Barabbas must have felt he was in a dream as the prison door opened and he walked out a free man!

I've wondered if he lingered outside long enough to see the One who took his place...

We don't know--one ancient tradition says that after he was released, Barabbas went to Golgotha to watch Jesus die.

Perhaps as Jesus was led out to be crucified, His sacred eyes caught the eyes of guilty Barabbas...

Hopefully Barabbas lived to place his faith in Christ so that he might be eternally saved...we just don't know.

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But you see, Barabbas is a type of us in that Jesus died in our place also.

Just like Barabbas, we were set free...because Christ became our substitute.

He literally became a curse for us on that Cross, so that we might be released from the curse of the Law that demanded our death for sin.

Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us - for it is written, ‘CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE’.”

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It struck me while studying for this message that the world of that day had a choice:

Do I choose Barabbas, or do I choose Jesus?

Do I choose darkness or light?

Evil or good?

Wrong or right?

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Which leaves us with the question Pilate asked that day that all of us must ask...Pilate said to the crowd:

III. What shall I do then with Jesus?

That is the single most important question you will answer in this life!

You can stand back and say, “I don’t care about him.”

You can push him away and say, “Leave me alone.”

You can ignore Him altogether.

Or you can open your heart and say, “Lord Jesus, I welcome you into my life.”

But either way, you will answer the question somehow.

And how you answer it will decide whether or not you have a substitute on that awesome day when God judges the entire world!

God chose Jesus to be your substitute, and He chose you to be a child of God if you respond in faith and accept Him into your heart!