HELP WK 3 F.R.O.G

WK 1 we talked about how things can get pretty dark at times but there is HELP and HOPE in Jesus!

Last WK we talked about the temptation to be right with our friends/the world rather than to be right with God and for our questions to keep us from going to God instead of running to Him but God’s word helped us understand we can go to Him with our questions and to be right with God is the best place we can be. It is always worth it to choose Jesus.

Which leads us to this week.

This week we are looking at Mark 15

If you were here Sunday we talked about this passage and how you have a choice Barabbas the criminal or Jesus Christ. The people chose to set free the criminal and crucify Jesus because the religious leaders were jealous, Jesus was getting in the way of their religion, and He was calling them out on things they were not getting right and instead of receiving his words and repenting they chose to try and get rid of Him, but what they didn’t know is this was all part of God’s plan and it was written in the OT that Jesus’ own people would betray and crucify Him. He would suffer and die, and we will look into that in the coming weeks, but tonight this is want I want you to know. There’s gonna to be a moment in your life were you choose to follow Jesus, and it will be the best decision you will ever make, it won’t always be easy, there is suffering involved, but you will grow and learn, and become more like Christ. Some of you have made that decision and you are on this journey, others haven’t and are interested or other are not, but here is such a big part of God’s heart and the gospel.

God chose you before you ever chose Him.

And we see that in this passage in a few ways.

Mark 15:3 (ESV)

And the chief priests accused him of many things.

The chief priest falsely accused Jesus. Again they were upset, they thought Jesus was getting too popular and it was ruining their image with the people. The God who they claimed to worship was right in front of them yet they were to prideful to see it. This could be us. We blame God for all kinds of things. He is the first one we blame when things go wrong, or they don’t go our way. We accuse Jesus of being mean because He tells us how we ought to live. We think he is this or that because He doesn’t do what we want him to do, but here is the thing.

Jesus chose us when we accused Him.

What is crazy about this is they were all falsely accusing Jesus, they didn’t even have anything solid to pin him to even get arrested let alone killed, and yet He knows all and could have started one by one rightly & justly accusing all of them, even us, but he kept quiet because He chose to take on the weight, our weight, which also shows us that

Jesus chose us when we were guilty.

Mark 15:11 ESV

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead.

All of us can sit in Barabbas shoes if we are honest. We spoke about this on Sunday, but Barabbas represents all of us. We have all sinned, we have all been guilty where it was a little thing or multiple things. Maybe you’re like Justin I haven’t done that much and maybe you’re like Justin I can’t stay out of trouble and I always get myself in a mess. It doesn’t matter. We’ve all been guilty of something.

I remember going to a juvenile center with our youth group were we led worship, and my mom stood up and said we may look different, but the truth is the only difference between you and many of us is that you’ve been caught and we haven’t. God sees all and even while we were in sin He chose to take our place.

HE chose us.

Then we see this

Mark 15:12–15 ESV

And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

Jesus chose us when we didn’t choose him.

They chose to free Barabbas and crucify Jesus.

here is what is crazy

Jesus willing offered up His life. He chose to give up His life because He chose to give each of us an invitation to believe in Him and be made right with God, become a part of God’s family, be filled with His Spirit to HELP us walk in freedom and victory instead of guilt, shame of the things we have done. There are really 4 main characters in this story:

Pilate - represents the poeple trying to please people, or to cover up past failures in order to look good. Their image and what people thing of them are most important.

Barabbas - represents the people caught guilty. Always seems to find their way in trouble. In fact can’t stay out of trouble, but he also doesn’t really care for authority and change only seems possible if you fight.

Crowd/Religious Leaders - represents the person who thinks they have never done anything wrong. In fact they believe their truth, and their way is better than God’s way. They blame God for all the bad things and want people to praise them for all the good things.

Which one are you? Which one best represents you? Maybe you relate more than one of them, but the main character in not just this story by all of Scripture is Jesus. and He chose to take your place.

And here is what is awesome about our God. He hasn’t come back yet because He wants you to have the invitation too. He has placed you here to hear this message about how He thought of, loved, and chose you first. Despite what you have done or haven’t done, Jesus took your place so that you could have a clean slate, a new life, no longer alone.