And now I would invite you to stand together with me for scripture reading. Our first scripture reading comes from Isaiah chapter 53, the book of Isaiah chapter 53, and then from the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew chapter 27, verse 15 through 27, but first Isaiah chapter 53, one through 12. Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed. And he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and was rich a man in his death, although he has done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilty, and he shall see offspring, he shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong, because He poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. And now turn to the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 27, starting from verse 15 to 27. Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one of the prisoners whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, whom do you want me to release for you, Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ? For he knew that he was out of envy that they had delivered him up. Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent a word to him, have nothing to do with the righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream. Now the chief priestess and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, which one of the two do you want me to release for you? And they said, Barabbas. Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? They all said, let him be crucified. And he said, why? What evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, let him be crucified. So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, I'm innocent of this man's blood. See it to yourselves. And all the people answered. His blood be on us and our children. Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Our Father and our God, and now we ask you to be among us. with the preaching of your word. Give us a heart that is willing to obey the voice of you, our God, through the proclamation of your word. By your very word, you have told us that your word is the bread of life. So we pray that you would be pleased to feed us with the bread of life, help us to be fed by the preaching of your word, and give us your Holy Spirit so that we would be a people who not only hear your word being preached to us, but also people who apply the preaching of a word in their own Christian work. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the Geneva Conventions, the exchange of prisoners is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners of war. And when exchange of prisoners takes place, it's very remarkable for both sides. Both sides receive captives of war, and when they receive their prisoners back to their homeland, there is always celebration and joy with both sides. And you all know and understand why both sides who are recipients of war prisoners rejoice on welcoming the heroes of their country back to their homeland. It is because these war prisoners are the heroes of their nation. They were at the battlefield to represent the nation. And they were doing things for the cause of those countries. And there is always joy. There is always celebration when people welcome their war prisoners. But tonight, I want you to imagine that you are receiving a prisoner, but this prisoner is not a hero. He's a criminal. He's a murderer. I don't think you would be willing to rejoice and with an open heart welcome such a person. But in the drama of the redemption of God's people, that we are considering tonight. We see almost the whole world, all the people who are observing the trial of our Lord Jesus Christ before Pontius Pilate. We see them welcoming a wicked man and rejecting a righteous man. We see them rejoicing in the release of a notorious man in their land over the righteous son of God. But as the people of God, we always need to remember that in the Bible, Barabbas is a picture. He's a type of every sinner who has been set free from prison. At some point of our life, we were like Barabbas. Before God found us through His Son, Jesus Christ, and brought us back to Himself by faith and repentance, we were in the same position like Barabbas. And tonight, by the help of God's grace, I would like to show you three things from this drama of the redemption of God's people at the time that our Lord Jesus Christ was standing under trial by Pontius Pilate. There are three things that we could learn from. The first thing is a pitiful condition of an unprincipled great man. And the second thing that we learn during this trial of our Lord Jesus Christ is the desperate wickedness of human nature. And the third thing that we see together is God's remedy for this desperate wickedness of human nature. So first, consider with me a pitiful condition of an unprincipled great man. Where was our Lord Jesus Christ during this time? If you read verse 11, You see where Jesus Christ was. Now Jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus Christ was standing before Pontius Pilate, the governor of Rome at the time. He was willingly standing to be judged, to be sentenced by Pontius Pilate. Remember one day, Pontius Pilate himself will stand before the judge of the entire world, Jesus Christ himself. He was not in a realization that he was about to condemn his king and the judge of the universe. But also, we need to remember, when Jesus Christ was standing before Pontius Pilate, he was accused for a crime. In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 23, we can see the two charges that have been leveled against Jesus Christ. One was, he was subverting the nation, forbidding the people to pay tax to Caesar. And the second charge was for him to claim himself as Christ the King. Of course, our Lord Jesus Christ admitted that he was a king from heaven, but he never claimed that he came to replace an earthly king. And Pilate knew that the people's accusation against Christ was not true. In verse 18, we read this. For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him deep inside Of him, Pilate knew that whatever those people were doing against Jesus Christ, it was a plot. It was out of jealousy. It was out of envy that they wanted to destroy Jesus Christ. But not only that, he also received a word from his own wife. In verse 19, our text tells us, besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent a word to him, having nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream. And this was a divine intervention. His wife had a dream, and through a dream, God told her to send these words to her husband. And in the New Testament, especially in the Gospel of Matthew, dreams had value. You remember, God instructed Joseph through a dream by an angel. He instructed him by an angel not to be afraid to take Mary as his own wife. God instructed the Magi not to return back to King Herod through a dream. But this time, even dream was ignored. Pontius Pilate, with his own conscience, he knew that Jesus Christ was innocent, he was guiltless, Even after receiving a word from his wife, he was not willing to give justice to the innocent Jesus Christ, our Savior. He was afraid to call sin, sin. The one thing that we learned from Pontius Pilate is even today, There are rulers and kings in the world who are afraid to call sin, sin. There are leaders of nations in the world today who are not ready to stand for the truth. They are more concerned about their public position among their people. And it was the same with Pontius Pilate. Though he was a powerful man in a position of a great authority, Pilate has the same fears that all humans have. Fear for his job, fear for his life, fear of shame and humiliation from the people. But he had all the power. He was a governor. You see, all the people who were shouting, crucify him, crucify him, they were his subjects. All the Roman soldiers around him, they were under his command. He could have given justice to Jesus Christ, but he was afraid, he was more concerned about his own personal fame than sending Jesus Christ free. In Matthew 6, verse 24, He says this, no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. And the people of God, unless a governor or a leader of a nation is regenerated, There is no way that he would stand for the truth. There is no way that he would stand for the cause of the gospel. And it was the same with Pontius Pilate. He chose to serve the people than King Jesus. But not with the Apostle Paul. When the Apostle Paul was fulfilling his ministry Many, many people came to Him to ask Him to distort, to change the message of the Gospel, to stop teaching that salvation is by grace and through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Because other preachers around Him, they were doing the same thing. They were preaching circumcision as a way of justification. And the response of the Apostle Paul, unlike Pontius Pilate, was this, for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. His response was a resounding no. I'm not going to change the message of the gospel, because I'm not standing as the minister of the gospel to please men, but to please God. But Pontius Pilate was taken by fear. His life was overwhelmed by the fear of the people, and then he was concerned for his own position. But secondly, he was the object of God's sovereignty. He was the object of the sovereign plan of redemption of our God. Through his act, the prophecy of the scriptures to be fulfilled. In the book of Acts, chapter 4, verse 27 and 28, The Bible says this, for truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. You see, Pontius Pilate was the object of God's plan of redemption. And God, through His act, was fulfilling His plan of salvation for His people. All the things that Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 53 had to be fulfilled through this. Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 53 7, he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent so he opened not his mouth. Conscious Pilate committed that wicked act so that the plan of God's redemption would be fulfilled through his actions. My brothers and sisters in Christ, there are two things that we need to learn from the life of this fearful leader. And the first thing is to discard the fear of man. As the children of God, we are called to fear God, not man. Especially when it comes to the proclamation of the Word of God. Especially when it comes to stand for the truth of the Gospel. We are not called to fear man. We are not called to change our message. To change our preaching. and to tell the whole world that our Savior Jesus Christ is righteous, He's innocent, and He died on that tree for the sake of the elect, for the sake of the sins of God's people. The Bible says in Psalm 118 verse 6, and this was the confidence of the psalmist, The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? And the second thing that we should learn from the life of Pontius Pilate is to maintain always a good conscience. When the apostles were told to obey the authorities than God in preaching the gospel. Their response was, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather to God, you must judge. Let your conscience judge. Is it proper to fear man or God? Your conscience should judge. But also, secondly, we see the desperate wickedness of human nature. In verse 15, Pontius Pilate gave the people a choice. Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. This verse strike in my mind. These are the Romans. When it is a feast of Passover, the Romans used to release prisoners for the Jewish people. And it is very sad and heartbreaking when you see that what they were doing was, when they released prisoners to please the Jewish people, they released criminals. They restore criminals back to the community. That's what they did with Barabbas. And the people embraced Barabbas instead of Jesus Christ. And Barabbas, the Bible tells us, was a very notorious criminal among the people. He was the one who was revolting against authorities. He was a very disobedient man. He was also a murderer. But think about Jesus Christ and the choice that Pontius Pilate gave to the people. Two prisoners, one was Barrabas and the other one was Jesus Christ. Now we saw who Barrabas was. The name of his meaning is the son of the father. And historians would tell you that he was a darling son to his father. But he turned out to be a criminal, a murderer. In fact, his name was Jesus Barrabas. So Jesus Barabbas and Jesus the son of God. Barabbas the son of the evil one. Everything that this man was doing represents the kingdom of Satan. And everything that Jesus Christ was doing representing the kingdom of God. So two kingdoms were standing before the people for them to choose. And who was Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ was doing good things to these people. Wherever He goes, He heals the sick. Wherever He goes, He feeds the hungry. He visits the poor. He prays for the needy. Whatever He does was good. But when Pontius Pilate gave them this choice, their choice was this. The people said in verse 21, The governor again said to them, which of the two do you want me to release for you? And they said, Barabbas. And Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? They all said, let him be crucified. And what this shows you, God's people, is the wickedness of man's heart. The prophet Jeremiah said, man's heart is very wicked. No one would understand it. That's the reason why the Bible exhorts us to guard our hearts. Because that's where life flows from. It's the fountain of life. So guard your heart. These people were not guarding their heart. They were ready to execute and kill the Son of God. But you need to ask, why did these priests and the crowd stood against Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ was not a Zionist. He never told his followers to overthrow Rome. He never induced the people not to pay tax to Caesar. In fact, his teaching was this, render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. This was what Jesus Christ was teaching. He told us to respect the authorities. He told us to pay our tax to authorities. So why did these people hate Jesus Christ? They hate Him because He was exposing sin. They hate Him because He was exposing their darkness. They hate Him because He told them this, your father is the devil. and you are doing the will of your father. So they were rejecting the one who brought light to sinners. But because he was exposing sin, he was attacked by these people. When Christ He came to the world to give eternal life to repentant sinners. But these people were not ready to receive Him. He came as the life and the light. In John 1, verse 4, referring to Jesus Christ, He said, In whom was life, and the life was the light of man. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. My brothers and sisters in Christ, when God breathed into man the breath of life, And man became a living soul. He filled him with a rational light and knowledge. At the time that God breathed life into the man, then man received the knowledge of God. Man received the knowledge of God, the knowledge of God's holiness and perfection. And when Jesus Christ brings new life to a repentant sinner, that sinner receives life. But that life comes to the life of a repentant sinner being attended by light. Christ enlightens. the life of those who come to him in faith and in repentance, so that they will know themselves, and they would know who God is, and they would come to Jesus by faith and repentance. But the heart of these people was so wicked, and they were ready to execute. They were ready to kill Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Tonight, I want to ask all of you how much you love Jesus Christ and how much you appreciate what He has done for you. Because you need to ask two things. One is, Jesus Christ was silent throughout all his time of trial so that he would become your spokesman. He was silent during this trial so that he would represent you before the throne of his father. He had a mission. that has been given to him to represent the people of God before the throne of God. And for that reason, he had to be silent and bear all the insult and wickedness of man against him. And certainly, we see God's remedy for this desperate wickedness of human heart. There are two things that the Bible emphasizes over and over again during this time of trial. One is Christ's innocence, and the other one is Christ's silence. Even Judah, after he regretted for what he has done against Jesus, He told the Pharisees that he was guilty of the blood of an innocent man. Pilate knew that Jesus was an innocent man. The thief on the cross witnessed about the innocence of Jesus Christ. The centurion witnessed about the innocence of Jesus Christ. Why all these witnesses about Christ's innocence? The reason was this, because the animal that would be presented as a sacrifice should be without any blemish. And the whole world should know that Christ was innocent. He was blameless. He was innocent. He was guiltless. And his sacrifice was perfect for the redemption and the salvation of God's people. And his silence, my brothers and sisters, was so that he would represent us before the throne of heaven. The remedy for the desperate wickedness of human heart was this. In verse 26, our text tells us this. Then he released for them Barabbas and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. Now that great exchange of prisoners was taking place. Remember, Barabbas was an accused criminal and he was found guilty. Jesus Christ was accused, and he was found not guilty. But the people chose Barabbas. He was not in rehab. He was on a death row. So wicked man, a criminal, but Pilate let this criminal go, and he sent Jesus Christ to the cross to be crucified. But what was taking place was a substitute of an innocent man in a place of a criminal, in a place of a guilty person. Did Barabbas know about that? The Bible doesn't tell us. But the one thing that we know is Christ took the place of a criminal and he went to the cross to die for God's people. Without the substitutionary atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is no salvation. What was taking place here is Christ was taking our place because every one of us were like Barabbas. We were sinners. We were guilty of sin. And that's what the Bible tells us in Romans 3.23. Listen to what the Bible says. For all, the Bible doesn't say for few of them, but the Bible says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Everyone has fallen into sin. Everyone is responsible for his sin. Everyone is a responsible sinner before God the Father. And the Bible says, and the wage of sin is death. Now think, if the Bible would stop there, if the Bible would leave us there, the wage of sin is death. And all have sinned and have gone astray from God. We would have been hopeless sinners without the hope of salvation. But the Bible says this, for the wage of sin is death. And I love this word in the Bible, but whenever the word but comes, along with the work of God's salvation. It makes the whole difference. For the words of sin is best, but the gift of God's eternal life, but for the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. When Christ took the place of Barabbas, God was giving a gift to His people. A gift for redemption. A gift for salvation. He took your place. He took your place and died on your behalf on the cross. Without this substitutionary atonement of Christ, man will die and spend eternity in hell as a payment for his sin. If you try to pay the payment of your sin, what you get is eternal punishment. You can't pay the debt of your sins, but Christ paid it for you. Christ took your place and died on your behalf. In Isaiah 53, 5 tells us, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And that peace that Christ brought to us was the reconciliation with God the Father through the righteousness and the perfection of his son, Jesus Christ. So my friends, Christ took your place on the cross. He died on your behalf. At one point in your life you were barabbas, but Christ changed the story of your life. Because he took your place and went to the cross to die for you. Remember the people were shouting by saying, let his blood be on us and our children. They were trying to exempt Pilate from responsibility. They were telling Pilate, don't worry Pontius Pilate, we are responsible for the deaths of this man. Don't worry, Caesar or anyone else is not going to hold you accountable for the deaths of this man. We are responsible and let his blood be on us and on our children. And whenever these people go, Unless they repent, you see, the judgment of God will be upon them. But that blood for us was a fountain of the forgiveness of our sins. It was a fountain of our salvation. That's where our hope is founded, the blood of Jesus Christ, our Savior. God's people, how do you apply these things in your own life? For those of you who are still living a life of Barabbas, you don't need to walk out from this place tonight without coming to Jesus Christ by faith and in repentance. Remember, He took your place on the cross. If you come to Him tonight, he will welcome you to his gracious arms and forgive all your sins. And for those of you who have been united with Christ by faith, live worthy of your calling. Live worthy of your calling. in the Church of Jesus Christ, in your family, in the land where you are living. Flee from sin, expose sin by the grace of God, and defend the gospel for the glory of God. Take courage from God and His Spirit, and forsake and hate the life of Pontius Pilate, and all others who defame the name of Jesus Christ and stand for the truth of the gospel. This is the call of the Word of God tonight for each and every one of us. If you have been united with Christ by faith, This is the call of God's word to you. Live a life that is worthy for your call. And we can only do this by God's grace. If we come to God and seek his grace to give us strength and courage to live a life that would glorify God, he will give us his grace. Let us pray. Our Father and our God, how we bless and magnify your name for the work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on the cross. Without Christ taking our place on the cross, we would not have been here tonight. We would not sing a song of joy and salvation for your glory. But because He took our place, because He became a substitute on behalf of His people, we are rejoicing in the salvation that you have brought to us through your Son Jesus Christ. And tonight we ask you to grant us your grace so that we will be able to live a life that is worthy for our call. Help us not to fear man, but to fear you, our God. Help us to stand for the truth of the gospel, especially when this dark and twisted world imposes upon us various kinds of invitations. and try to attract us towards its own strategy to attack the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Help us to stand firm and say no to its invitation. Help us to live a life that is worthy of the Gospel. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.