Series — The Road to the Resurrection — Message 15 — G.R.A.C.E. — A Sinner Set Free because of the Savior’s Sacrifice
The Road to the Resurrection • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning Church. I hope each of you had a wonderful week and a wonderful Thanksgiving!
How many of you ate too much on Thanksgiving?
Today, we are going to be continuing on in our study of the Book of Matthew and I just want to say I am super excited about today’s message.
Today’s message is entitled G.R.A.C.E. — A Sinner Set Free because of the Savior’s Sacrifice.
We just celebrated Thanksgiving this past Thursday and what I hope you leave here with this morning is that there is nothing greater in this world that we should be thankful for than God’s amazing grace!
Who from our Wednesday night crew can tell me what GRACE means?
G — God’s
R — Riches
A — At
C — Christ’s
E — Expense
This morning, we are going to see the continuation of last week’s message and the trial of Jesus.
Last week, we looked at the Hebrew trial of Jesus and this week we are going to be seeing the Heathen trial of Jesus.
And by the end of our reading today, we are going to see God’s grace in action and a sinner set free!
And the reality of this story is this…every single person sitting here this morning is representative of this sinner we are going to read about.
The only question that remains is have you experienced the grace of God that brings salvation like the fellow in our story today?
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned every one to his own way;
And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities:
The chastisement of our peace was upon him;
And with his stripes we are healed.
This morning, if you have never experienced the amazing saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, you can.
By simply believing that He lived a perfect life, died a sinners death in your place and rose from the grave on that third and glorious morning, you can be saved.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
The Lord Jesus Christ paid the price for your sins, He died in your place so that you can be saved and live forever in heaven with Him.
But the fact still remains that you have to make a choice. You have to decide in your heart to choose Jesus this morning.
If you decide to follow Jesus, all your sins...past, present and future will be placed on His account and you shall be forgiven and set free from the bondage of sin and shame.
But if you choose to go your own way, if you choose to travel this road we call life on your own, then you have to pay for those sins and the price is eternal death.
Won’t you choose Jesus this morning? Won’t you choose eternal life over eternal death?
There are but two options for every person sitting here…man, woman, boy and girl.
Heaven or Hell. Eternal Life or Eternal Death. Eternity with God or Eternity separated from God.
The choice is yours!
With that being said, if you have your Bible’s turned with me to Matthew 27 this morning, would you say, Amen.
The Silence of the Savior — (Vs. 1-2, 11-14)
The Silence of the Savior — (Vs. 1-2, 11-14)
Now, there’s quite a bit I want to cover here and the reason is when you read the gospels in harmony, you will find there’s quite a bit more that happens here than what we see in Matthew’s gospel.
If you look in Luke’s gospel you will find that the Bible says in...
And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.
Now, do you notice how they proposition the false claims against Jesus to Pilot verses what they charged Him with themselves?
If you will remember, they charged Jesus with blasphemy before the Sanhedrin Council and the High Priest.
But now, they trump up a whole list of other charges that had nothing to do with blasphemy.
Why would they do that you ask?
Well here’s why.
Pilate was a Roman…a gentile.
And being a gentile, they knew if they presented their case of blasphemy to Pilate he would simply tell them that had nothing to do with him being a religious matter and that they would need to take care of it themselves.
So, they decide to go with something more concerning, something that would peak the interest of Pilate and force his hand to do something with this man named Jesus.
Instead of blasphemy, they tell Pilate that Jesus was trying to incite a resurrection, that He was telling people not to pay their taxes to Caesar and that He was claiming to be a King!
All of these things went against the Roman rule of order and they knew that the claim of being a King would be the one that would cause Pilate pause and at least make him look into the claims further as Rome’s biggest fear was a new leader arising.
So, they make their claims against Jesus and Pilate begins to question Him on the matter.
“Are you the King of the Jews,” asked Pilate?
“You have said it,” responds Jesus.
The Chief Priests begin to rail on Jesus even more!
“See, we told you He claims to be a King! You must do something Pilate!”
Pilate, hearing the claims says to Jesus, “Don’t you hear the things they accuse you of? What is your response?”
To which Jesus doesn’t even give them the luxury of responding.
The Bible says...
And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.
Never before had Pilate seen a man not even plead his own case!
John Phillips — The ball was now in Pilate’s court and he did not like it. There was something about this King that was royal in spite of His bruises and spittle-matted beard.
He was royal in the majestic silence with which He faced His accusers, those rabble priests whose demeanor and denunciations gave them away as emissaries of Hell.
Jesus needed no glittering diadem, no regal purple, no ivory throne, no imperial guard, no diamond-studded scepter, no trappings of earthly monarchy to proclaim Him King.
Pilate sensed that he was in the presence of a greater King than the caesar, that Jesus was more than a king.
It’s almost as if Pilate felt himself to be on trial through the silence that Jesus offered up!
“What am I to do with a man that won’t even defend himself?”
In all of his dealings this would be the greatest trial that Pilate would ever oversee and unknowingly, his sentence would have eternal consequences.
Here’s the thing to keep in mind though…although Pilate might have thought himself in control of the situation, in His silence, Jesus was still reigning sovereign over the entire situation!
Nevertheless, the crowd of High Priests and members of the Sanhedrin Council continue to rail on Jesus and in their railing, Pilate believes to have found himself a way out of this mess he’s found himself pulled into.
If you look in Luke’s gospel in...
And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place. When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean. And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time. And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing. And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him. And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate. And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves.
And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth 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 chastise him, and release him.
Pilate decides he’s going to let Jesus go but the Chief Priests and Elders had another idea!
Look with me now at...
The Suggestion of Pilate’s Spouse — (Vs. 15-19)
The Suggestion of Pilate’s Spouse — (Vs. 15-19)
Here’s Pilate and he’s got a conundrum on his hands!
He knows Jesus is not guilty of what they are claiming; he knows He’s innocent but at the same time he has an angry mob at his door step demanding he crucify this man!
Look what it says there in...
18 For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.
So, he has another idea. Apparently there was a custom that each year he would let a prisoner go at the passover celebration and just so happened that there was a very notable prisoner by the name of Barabbas incarcerated.
Now, in Pilate's mind, he’s thinking… “just a few days ago multitudes of people were praising this Jesus as He road into Jerusalem. They were shouting hosannas in this highest for this guy so surely they will choose rather that I let him go instead of Barabbas.”
So, he makes the offer.
“You know that each year I release unto you a prisoner. Whom would you rather have? Jesus or Barabbas?”
Now, I want to pause here and take a look at something that takes place during all this turmoil.
Pilate makes his offer to the people and then look what happens!
19 When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
The NLT reads...
19 Just then, as Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message: “Leave that innocent man alone. I suffered through a terrible nightmare about him last night.”
Men as bad as we hate to admit it, we’re not always right and sometimes, our wives know best!
Now, there’s something very interesting I want to point out to you here that I don’t know if you’ve ever seen or thought about.
Notice how Pilate’s wife refers to Jesus?
“Have nothing to do with that “just” man!” or as the NLT says, “Leave that innocent man alone!”
Now, this is what peaked my interest.
How does Pilate’s wife know that Jesus is innocent? How does she know He is a just man?
I mean I’m sure her and Pilate had heard of Jesus and how His teachings were causing an uproar among the religious elites but what really gets me is that in order to know that someone is just you must have had to had some interaction with them, right?
I mean you’re not just going to say someone is innocent or just if you’re just working off here say, right?
Now, could God have shown her something in her dream that introduced her to the real Jesus?
Absolutely. But I think there may be more and one day when I get to heaven I hope to find out for sure!
I believe there’s a possibility that somewhere, somehow, Pilate’s wife had come into contact with Jesus and possibly heard His teaching and therefore when she heard what was going on and that Pilate had this man’s life in his hands (or so he thought) that she sent and said let that man go!
Now, we don’t know what kind of nightmare she had but we can know that it was one serious enough to give her pause and cause her to make a scene before all the people to request her husband not have anything to do with it!
We see the suggestion of Pilate’s spouse, but greater than her suggestion was...
The Chief Priests and Elders Stirring of Sedition — (Vs. 20-25)
The Chief Priests and Elders Stirring of Sedition — (Vs. 20-25)
So, here we are....Pilate wants to let Jesus go, Pilate’s wife basically begs him to let Jesus go because of a bad dream she’s had about the situation, but the people are dead set on seeing Him crucified.
Notice how Matthew portrays the scene here.
You have Pilate, he’s give them a choice as to who they want to see set free and from the scripture, one could say that the crowd was at least mulling the situation over because it says there in Verse 20...
20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
Apparently there were some who were weighing their options and leaning towards Jesus!
But these sneaky scoundrels were making their way through the crowds and persuading them, the Bible says, to choose Barabbas.
Pilate asks again, “which one do you want me to set free? Jesus or Barabbas?”
They say unto him, “Barabbas.”
Then Pilate says, “well what do you want me to do with this man named Jesus?”
“Let him be crucified,” the crowd responds.
Pilate says, “why, what evil has he done?”
“But they cried out the more saying, “let him be crucified!””
Now, I want to stop here for just a moment and take you over to John’s gospel because we see something else take place here that’s not recorded in Matthew’s account.
4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.
5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!
6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.
7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;
9 And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.
Something deep down inside was telling Pilate to let this man go. Every fiber of his being was screaming… “Pilate! You know the right thing to do here! You’re in charge of this territory! Let the man go!”
But…the threats of the crowd and the fear of word getting back to Caesar if he did let Jesus go after claiming to be a king, would cost him his position of power and the thought of that was worth more than the life of an innocent man in the eyes of Pilate.
The reality is, later he would end up losing his position of power anyways!
The Bible says back in Matthew in...
24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
The last thing Pilate wanted was an uprising so he washes his hands of the situation and says in essence, “if that’s what you want, have it but know this, this “just” man’s blood is not on my hands!”
What Pilate didn’t realize though is no amount of water would ever be able to wash the blood of Christ from those hands!
At the end of the day, he had an opportunity to do the right thing and he chose not to.
Just like the mob before him, he chose the worldly instead of the heavenly!
Now, this is where it starts getting real good and is what’s gonna wind us towards the close of today’s service.
There’s one more thing here I want to talk to you about and most have probably never even given it a second thought…and that’s this man Barabbas.
When you begin to do some digging on this man named Barabbas you will find some interesting things.
First off is his name.
The name Barabbas is comprised of two Hebrew words “Bar” meaning “Son of” and “Abbas” meaning father.
Put together the name Barabbas means “Son of the Father.”
Now, to take it a step further, “father” was a title by which the greatest Rabbis were known.
Now, going back to Matthew’s gospel here the Bible tells us that this man Barabbas was a “notable prisoner.”
If you look at all the gospels together we start to get a clearer picture of just who this man Barabbas was.
John tells us he was a robber and Mark and Luke tell us that he was an insurrectionist and a murderer!
Could it be that this man Barabbas was the son of a well known Rabbi who went his own way, got out in the world and found himself on the wrong side of the law?
We can’t know for certain but that’s what it would seem.
What we do know is here was a man who was apparently tired of the rule of Rome. He was tired of being under someone else’s authority and he somehow finds himself, whether he started it or was simply part of a bigger plot, he finds himself part of a revolt which ended with him imprisoned and awaiting his turn to be crucified.
Now, to add to the story we have another twist.
William Barclay writes — Still more interesting is the near-certainty that Barabbas was also called Jesus. Some of the very oldest versions of the New Testament, for example the ancient Syriac and Armenian versions, call him Jesus Barabbas; and those two early interpreters of Scripture, Origen and Jerome, both knew of that reading, and felt it might be correct.
So, here we are…Jesus Barabbas or Jesus the Christ?
Now, look back at how Pilate refers to Jesus here and when you see it you’ll see how it all makes sense.
17 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?
And then look in...
22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.
Two different times Pilate specifically refers to Jesus as “Jesus which is called the Christ” as to delineate between the two.
Do you want the Jesus of this world or do you want Jesus the Messiah?
In Matthew 1:21 the Bible says the name Jesus means savior so in essence one could say...
Do you want the one who tried to set you free through a physical rebellion against Roman authorities or do you want the one who came to set you free from the spiritual bondage of your sins?
It reminds me of the choice Joshua put to the people of Israel as his days of leading came to an end....
“Choose you this day whom you will serve!”
And sadly the crowd chose the Jesus of this world as many still do today.
Give us Jesus Barabbas!
Just a man who had tried to set the people free already and failed miserably.
We would rather have just a man instead of a just man!
And if that weren’t enough, the crowd goes on to say… “the blood of Jesus be on us and on our children.”
If only they’d of known the impact of that blood would have on all who will call upon His mighty name!
I want to draw to a close this morning by looking at one final verse and then asking you to take a moment and place yourself in the shoes of Barabbas.
Look down at Verse 26 with me.
A Sinner’s Life Spared for the Life of the Savior — (Vs. 26)
A Sinner’s Life Spared for the Life of the Savior — (Vs. 26)
As we come to a close here I want to ask you to do me a favor.
I want to ask you to imagine for just a moment in time that you are this man named Barabbas.
And just so you can understand where you are, the story we just read most believe took place at the Fortress of Antonia.
They believe the pavement or judgement hall was located here.
They have brought Jesus to Pilate and the crowds are packed in this area called the pavement outside of Pilate’s headquarters.
Pilate comes out to and addresses the crowd.
Now, some believe that Barabbas was also being held somewhere inside this fortress of Antonia.
So imagine with me for just a moment that you are Barabbas.
You find yourself behind bars somewhere inside this mighty fortress.
You can’t see outside but you can hear the commotion and you know that something is going on.
You also know that at any day your time could be up and your crucifixion could be at hand.
Could today be the day?
Now, think back to the story with me for just a moment and put yourself in Barabbas shoes.
Pilate is one man speaking but the crowd as we have seen shouts together many different times.
Now, imagine somewhere inside this prison you hear the commotion and you wonder what’s going on.
Pilate says to the crowd who would you rather me release to you?
Now you more than likely wouldn’t have heard Pilate’s request because he’s just one man but the crowd in one accord replies “Barabbas!”
This you would have heard.
Can you imagine sitting there in that prison and you know there’s something going on and then all of a sudden you hear this roaring crowd shout… “Barabbas!”
Then Pilate asks again…which one should I release to you?
Again the crowd shouts… “Barabbas!”
Now, you’ve heard your name twice and you’re starting to look around and you’re the only Barabbas in sight and you begin to get worried a little!
“What is going on out there?”
Pilate says, “Then what do you want me to do with Jesus the Christ?”
This you wouldn’t have heard.
But then all of a sudden you hear the crowd shout “Crucify Him!”
Oh no! It’s happening! That dreaded day you have been waiting on is about to take place!
Then the shouts get louder and louder… “crucify him! crucify him!”
Then, you see two Roman guards coming down the hall and you’re hoping they aren’t coming for you but they get to your cell and they stop!
They open the door and you just know what’s about to take place!
They are there to take you to be crucified!
All your worries are coming to fruition.
They each grab you by the arm, they begin to drag you down the hall and you begin to sweat and dread the worst.
You see some light at the end of the hall. It’s the entrance. It’s about to happen.
All your worst fears are about to come true.
You emerge from the hallway and before you stands a massive crowd and when you walk out they all begin to shout.
This is it you think to yourself. I’m about to pay for my wrongdoings!
My sins have found me out and today is the day I get to pay for them.
But then, you hear Pilate begin to speak and you hear the words…Barabbas you are set free!
What? That can’t be right. I must have dreamed that. There’s no way I just heard those words come out of his mouth.
He’s lost his mind. He’s gone mad!
But then, the guards take off the shackles and people begin to congratulate you.
In your mind you can’t understand what’s happening?
It’s at this moment you look over to where Pilate is and you see someone on their knees.
Their head is bowed over. They’re bleeding profusely. They have shackles on their hands.
No one is paying them any attention.
And then, He looks up at you. Your eyes meet His and in that moment you hear a voice but it’s not audible.
You’re not sure how you’re hearing it but you do and the voice is saying… “you’re welcome Barabbas.”
You begin to ask who the man was and they tell you His name is Jesus.
You being find out that the crowd chose you to be set free instead of Him.
A flood of emotions fill your mind and you don’t know whether to be thankful or to feel sorry for the man who gave His life so that you could be set free!
You don’t understand what’s happening but you are thankful that it wasn’t you!
The crowd ushers you away and you never see the man again but one thing you’ll never be able to forget… “you’re welcome Barabbas.”
Now, I want you to open your eyes.
And I want you to understand that every single person sitting here this morning at some point has been in this same condition as Barabbas.
Lost and undone in your sins with no way of saving yourself!
Some of you sitting here this morning are still lost and undone with no way of saving yourself.
But some of you have taken the step of trusting in this man named Jesus.
Do you know what happened to Barabbas here?
Grace happened to Barabbas.
Barabbas got something he didn’t deserve.
Barabbas received God’s riches at Christ’s expense.
And some of you sitting her this morning have done the same.
You have accepted God’s grace and you have been set free from the bondage of sin and you are free!
The Son of God has set you free and you are free indeed!
But some of you are sitting here and you haven’t taken that same step.
You are still in bondage.
You are like Barabbas before being imprisoned and you are trying to set yourself free!
Dear friend listen to me…nothing you can do can free you from your sin except believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ!
No amount of money, no amount of good works, no special last name, no family member…nothing except the precious blood of Jesus can wash away your sins!
So why don’t you stop trying to do it on your own this morning and come and trust in Jesus?
Now is the accepted time and today is the day of salvation!
Come while he waits for you!