Give Us Barabbas

The text this morning brings before us the most tragic choice in human history. We are a people who are constantly inundated with choices and their aftermath. Wrong choices have dismantled and destroyed many lives. It matters not where we come from or where we are in life; each of us must eventually choose between Christ and Barabbas. Each represent a different kind of world and a different way of reaching the desired outcome. Barabbas represents everything that is human and man-made. But Jesus represents all that is Divine and God-made. No text, reveals the inherent evil of man’s character more than his choice of Barabbas over Jesus. Man, when given a choice of a redeemer, he chose a robber. He chose a sinner over a Saviour. He chose a murderer over a missionary. He chose a man over Emmanuel. Barabbas, an insurrectionist, a social rebel, a known thug, a criminal, a violital gangster; he was chosen over Jesus. History has much to say about this enigmatic character. It is said that the name Barabbas was really Jesus Barabbas. The word Bar meant (son of) and Abba meant (father). Thus, the name Barabbas would mean son of the father. Yet present that day was Christ, the true SON OF THE FATHER. Barabbas represented a kind of false Jesus. He was in a sense a kind of saviour who sought to save the people through a governmental overthrow. But Christ on the otherhand would save His people through the shedding of no one else’s blood save His own. Let us consider what the people’s choice teach us.

First, We Are Taught Something About the Fallen Nature of Adam’s Posterity.

Second, True Holiness is Hated by the Unchanged Heart.

Third, Apart From the Holy Spirit, Man Will Not Choose Jesus.

Fourth, We Fool Ourselves Into Thinking That Ridding Ourselves of Christ Will Allow Us to Perform Our Natural Deeds.

Fifth, The Louder We Cry Against Christ, the More Our Conscious Will Trouble Us. (Pilate’s wife)

Six, The Choice of Barabbas Will Ultimately Bring Death to Those Who Refuse to Choose Christ.

Seventh, The Choice of Barabbas Marked the Close of Jesus’s Ministry. (The choice of Barabbas will close our ministry also)

Eighth, Which Have You Chosen; Barabbas or Jesus?

Conclusion: If ever a man understood substitutionary death, it was Barabbas. The choice of Christ to die liberated a criminal, so that he could return home. Are we not just like Barabbas? Did not Christ’s death free us also? Who was Barabbas? He was You and Me....

May God Bless and Keep You

Pastor Rodney L. Johnson Sr.,

Historic Bethlehem Baptist Church

Hahnville, LA. 70057