Give us Barabbas
Sunday, August 08, 2010
By Pastor James May
To any student of the Bible, the story that I have to tell you today is one that you have heard many times before. Though we continuously celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and we preach on the power of the cross of Christ unceasingly, some of the events and circumstances that surround the crucifixion are generally spoken of mostly at Easter each Spring. I propose nothing new to you this morning; nothing that you have not heard before; and yet I feel compelled to speak to you concerning the condition of the hearts of men during that great moment in history.
1) I want us to look at the condition of the hearts of those who were of the world; who knew not Jesus and who cared little that he had come into this world to be their Savior.
2) I want to examine the condition of the hearts of the religious leaders of the day; the High Priest and the members of the Sanhedrin Council.
3) Lastly, I want to examine the condition of the hearts of those who knew Jesus best and who had the greatest understanding of who Jesus was; those who had a personal relationship with him.
In the process of these examinations, I believe that we will find ourselves. We will identify with someone, and in so doing, we will discover just where we fit into the plan of God and whether we are truly ready to see Jesus come again.
Jesus himself, spoke a warning to anyone who would contemplate the condition of his/her heart in these last days, just prior to His return. It is a chilling warning and one that every one of us must be careful not to forget; for in this warning Jesus is speaking to those who thought they were ready; people who considered themselves to be the Children of God; people who were working for the Lord. Their only problem was that their hearts were not right with God, even though they were doing some wonderful things.
If ever there was a scripture that proves that more than good works is required for salvation, this passage is the one. Listen to the warning that Jesus gives:
Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Matthew 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
I shudder to think of what the judgment will be like for these people who thought that everything was all right between them and God. To be called before the Lord, expecting to hear the words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”, and to instead hear God say that He never knew you, would be the ultimate in disappointment. To believe that your own heart has deceived you so badly, and to realize that every preacher who had told you that you were okay and had nothing to fear, only to find out that you were living a lie would bring a feeling of desperation, despair, fear and dread beyond anything that we could imagine.
I suppose that the closest thing to that feeling that I could imagine in this life is to think that you have someone in your life that truly loves you; someone that you believe will always be there and that there is no indication whatsoever of trouble. Then one day you come home and they are gone; left with someone else and cast you aside like a piece of trash. This has a devastating effect on you heart and soul, and you will forever carry the wounds in your heart from that day. Some of you here have faced that feeling and though you have tried to move on, you will never feel that same trust and security again, and you have a hard time really opening your heart to anyone that way. It’s a part of your self preservation to try to prevent that from happening again.
Yet this great wounding of the heart pales in comparison to the grief and sorrow that will be felt by those who are rejected at the judgment. They have depended upon good works, even great spiritual works, and they have not prepared their heart by having a right relationship with Jesus.
These scriptures tell us that it is possible to do great works for the kingdom of God, even casting out demons, teaching and giving prophecies, and still lose out with God. Notice that the scriptures never deny the reality of these good works. The Bible even calls them “wonderful works” meaning they were not only good and useful, but they were truly wonders that could only be accomplished by God working among them.
How can this be? How can people who aren’t right with God do such wonderful works and still be lost? The answer can be found in the fact that God is faithful to his Word, no matter who speaks that word. The Word of God can never fail, but man will fail. Never let your heart be fooled because a preacher has a ministry of healing, or is used in the working of miracles. These things happening in the services are not a sign that the preacher is right with God. Too many people have fallen into that trap. We must be very careful of whom we give our support. Some great programs and great ministries are often led by men whose hearts are far from being right with God, and no matter how great the ministry may be, there is always the possibility that the imperfect man who leads it will fall into sin.
Can an unsaved or backslidden preacher lead people to Christ? Sure he can! He knows the way to salvation, he just isn’t walking in that way. He has trained himself to appear to be what he is not, and though his own heart may not be right, the power of the Holy Ghost, working through the Word of God as it goes forth, can still reach into the hearts of the hearers and bring conviction for sin and lead people to repentance and a true experience with Christ. This is all a work of the Holy Ghost, not of the preacher. It is a result of the power of God’s Word, not the speech of the preacher. God will honor his Word; and he will honor the faith of those who truly belief and reach out to him, no matter what the condition of the heart of the preacher is.
For a moment let’s look at what happened during Jesus’ trial before Pilate. Jesus had been arrested illegally, tried before a kangaroo court by the High Priest and the Council of the Jews and found guilty. The Jews were set on murdering Jesus, but they were going to try to force the Romans to be the executioners so that they would not be found in violation of Roman law.
What was the condition of the hearts of those who would be considered as heathens; the gentiles all around the world in that day? It was the same as it is now. Very few people in the gentile nations even knew that Jesus existed. Perhaps they had heard of some miracles, or had heard the name of Jesus, but they paid little attention to any of it because it was happening in a land far from where they lived and had no impact on their own daily lives. While Israel, the Roman authorities and the disciples were all caught up in the turmoil of the crucifixion, the rest of the world went about their daily lives as though nothing was happening at all. What happened in Jerusalem just didn’t seem to matter to them.
In comparison, the hearts of men around the world are still in that same condition today. While we in the church are preaching about the Second Coming of Christ and we are watching for his imminent return, the rest of the world doesn’t give it a second thought. Though men can see that something is getting ready to happen; and they know through TV and news reports that some great event is looming, they really don’t think about it. They are too busy with living from day to day. Even though we try to tell them that the end is drawing closer, most people continue to live as though they will never die and the world will last forever. They really don’t believe that man will face God’s judgment. They walk on blindly toward the pit, believing that somehow, everything will be all right.
Their heart and mind is set on the things of this world, and they never give a thought to what will happen when this life is over. Most will go to their grave never having given one second of their lives in service to Christ. The vast majority of those who will find themselves in hell have never even given a thought that such a place existed.
These are the Children of Satan, worshippers of Mother Earth, those who consider that Man is his own god; and fate controls the destiny of all things. They trust only in themselves; believe only what they can see and touch and live only according to the desires of their flesh. Nothing else matters. Go for the gusto! Get all you can and “can” all you can get! Enjoy life to the fullest. Live for today and die tomorrow; then it’s all over! That’s the way that most of mankind will live.
Every day, more souls are brought into this world who will live and die, never knowing Jesus. For this reason, the eternal regions of hell are ever expanding to accommodate those who will live either in defiance of God, or without any knowledge of God.
Isaiah 5:14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
The second category of people that I want to look at is the condition of the hearts of the High Priest and Jewish Council. These were the Children of Abraham, people to whom the promises of God’s covenant had been given. These were the people who should have been most aware of who Jesus was. They had been given the Law of God, the writing of the Old Testament Prophets and they had everything at their disposal to know and recognize the Son of God when He came into their midst. But their hearts were not right with God. They had perverted the Word of God to their own profit. They had observed the Law in order to gain the admiration, respect and obedience of the people. They had held true to their convictions only so that they could have the power over the people and become lords over the House of Israel.
These religious leaders can only be compared to the church of today. When we talk about Christianity, that term includes a vast number of congregations, preachers and religious leaders around the world. The problem is that most of what the world calls Christianity isn’t Christian at all. Just because we have a cross above the steeple, or the word Christian in our name, or we wear a cross around our neck, it doesn’t mean that we are really Christian. To be truly Christian means that we have a relationship with Christ, live like Christ, desire the things of Christ and we are watching faithfully for the return of Christ, while we do the works of righteousness that the Word of Christ instructs us to do.
I am convinced that most of the world of Christianity does not meet this criteria and that the reality of their being in Christ does not exist but in name only.
The numbers of people who consider themselves Christians have no clue of what it means to truly be Christian is great. To be Christian means more than just believing in Jesus, for even devils believe in Jesus, yet they are not Christian by any means. You can ask most people on the street if they know Jesus, and most will say yes, but they aren’t serving him.
The religious leaders of Israel taught the Law of Moses and read the scriptures in the temple, but they twisted the Law, perverted the scripture and made the people to believe what they wanted them to believe; not what the Word said. It was Spiritual Manipulation; controlling the hearts and minds of people by the abuse of God’s own Word.
Do you know religious leaders like that today? If you open your eyes you will see them everywhere. There are preachers who have a stranglehold on their congregation and control them though their own set of rules and regulations in the church; preachers who manipulate your thinking by presenting sad stories and fabricating ideas that convince you to send them your support; preachers who milk the sheep for their own gain and then convince you that if you aren’t getting rich then you aren’t saved; preachers who manipulate the Word of God to meet their own agenda and then tell you that you need to depend upon them for teaching because you can’t understand it on your own; preachers who try to control your life through legalism but can’t even live up to their own standards.
Isn’t this the same thing that the Jewish leaders were doing at the time of the crucifixion? Nothing has changed except the names of the people and the technology at their disposal to control the hearts of men.
Included in this group of people would be the people of Israel who were led astray by their religious leaders. They thought they were doing right thing. Just look at Saul. He was a Pharisee, the strictest of all the religious leaders who observed the Law all the time. He was well educated in the scriptures and knew the law better than most. He was fervent in his convictions and very protective of his religion, even to the point of persecuting those who were considered as threats to the Jewish faith.
Today, it is the divisions within the church, doctrinal differences and differences in interpretation of the scriptures that keeps the church from fulfilling its destiny in reaching men for Christ. There is so much fighting inside that we can’t focus on fighting the forces of darkness on the outside.
Within every congregation there are those who, like the religious leaders of Israel, think that their works are going to be enough. They are always ready to get involved in doing good things. But even though they are busy serving in the church, their hearts are really far from God. Sometimes they work because they want recognition; sometimes to be placed in positions of leadership and authority; and sometimes just to keep up the appearance of being a part of God’s family. But if those are the only reasons, then its all for nothing. We must be willing to serve simply because we love Jesus and for no other reason.
Don’t ever forget that it was the religious crowd that cried out “Crucify Him!” on that day.
Luke 23:18 And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:
Barabbas was a murderer, a thief, a robber and had been the cause of an insurrection. He represented the worst that could be found in the world, and yet the Jews chose Barabbas over the righteous Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Is that not what Christians are still doing today? We present Christ to the church, week after week, and just as Pilate stood Jesus and Barabbas before them on that day; we present to you every week, Jesus, the Savior of the world, the Son of God; and the sin of the world. And week after week, people who claim to be Christians, turn their back on Jesus and choose Barabbas, desiring the things of this world more than the things of Christ. Most of the Church world today still cries out “crucify Him!” They don’t really want to follow Jesus. They don’t want to be committed and faithful, dedicated to God. They want a weekly “fix” and then go out and enjoy the world the rest of the week. They still scream, by their actions, “Give us Barabbas! Away with Jesus! We don’t want to be controlled by the Son of God, or surrender our will to his!”
Lastly now, I want to examine the condition of the hearts of those who were close to Christ; those who walked with him and had a personal relationship with Jesus.
Peter, James, John and all of the disciples had walked with Jesus daily. They had never really known Jesus fully, and it would only be after the resurrection that they would truly come to know Jesus as the Savior and the Son of God. I can’t say that I blame them for it would be hard for us today to accept the fact that a man who walked among us and who experienced sickness, sorrow, pain and even death, just as we do, would actually be God walking among us.
Peter had come to the realization that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Ghost as the Father in Heaven had opened his understanding.
The disciples really came to love Jesus and they had committed their lives to him, and yet on this day, the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, they all ran and hid in fear.
Much of the true church of today lives in this condition too. So many of God’s people live far below their privileges in Christ. We are plagued with worry and fear. We become fearful of what’s happening around us, and sometimes our faith is tested greatly. We are oppressed by the devil every time a sickness comes upon us and he brings thoughts immediately that this time you won’t make it. We haven’t learned to cast all our care and worries on the Lord, but prefer to try to work them out ourselves.
As we see the end of all things approaching and we know that the coming of the Lord is upon us, we sometimes find ourselves worrying about whether God will bring us through. Will I lose my job; my house; my security? Christians are some of the biggest worry warts I know. Sometimes knowing what’s coming seems worst than just being able to go about our merry way in ignorance. We look around and it seems that people who don’t give God a thought are doing so great. Life is good for them, while we are constantly concerned over our lost loved ones and fear that so many will be left behind to face the wrath of God.
My friends, God does not intend for us to live in fear. He has promised that he will provide our need. He has promised to be with us to the end. He has promised to give us the victory. He has promised that His Word will never fail.
After Jesus rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven, and the Holy Ghost came on the Day of Pentecost, there was a new power in the church. The Holy Ghost gave them boldness to preach, boldness to believe and set them on fire for God to spread the gospel. That’s where the church needs to be today, but we will never be that without being full of the power of the Holy Ghost! We simply can’t do anything without the power of the Holy Ghost! In these last days God is not looking for a church that is hiding fearful in a corner behind closed doors. God is looking for a church that is filled with power and that is marching forward in faith with the blood stained banner of the Cross flying high in the winds of adversity. We are marching onward to Zion, that beautiful city of God! We must march on, holding our ranks, advancing on the strongholds of the devil and pushing back the tide of evil. Don’t give up the fight! Never Surrender! Through the power of the Holy Ghost we will overcome!
Where do you see yourself today? Are you part of the worldly crowd that never gives God a thought? Are you caught up with the religious leaders, more concerned about your own programs and your own agenda, than about the will of God? Are you identified with the religious group that cried out “Give us Barabbas” because you prefer to live your own life than surrender your life to Christ? Or are you a part of that glorious church, without spot of sin, wrinkle of disobedience to Word of God, and blemish of rebellion against the leadership of the Holy Ghost in your life?
The only group going in the rapture is those who are ready, watching and waiting. Will you be in that number when the Saints go Marching In?
Examine your heart – the Word of the Lord will reveal your true condition right now – then come to Christ and make it right. Be a part of that glorious church today!
