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You'll just want to take your
Bibles and go with me to the book of Mark, Mark chapter number
15. Mark chapter number 15, and we're
looking today at the beginnings of the cruel trial of our Savior. And I want to pay close attention
here to the first 15 verses of Mark chapter number 15. We'll
take our text this morning. The Bible says, beginning in
verse number 1, Mark chapter number 15, The Bible
says, "...and straightway in the morning the chief priest
held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole
council and bound Jesus and carried him away and delivered him to
Pilate. And Pilate asked him, Are thou the king of the Jews?
And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it. And the chief
priest accused him of many things, but he answered, Nothing. And Pilate Ask him again, saying,
Answerest thou nothing? Behold, how many things they
witness against thee! But Jesus yet answered nothing,
so that Pilate marveled. Now at that feast he released
unto them one prisoner, whomever they desired. And there was one
named Barabbas, which lay bound with them, that had made insurrection
with him who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the
multitude, crying aloud, began to desire him to do as he had
ever done unto them. But Pilate answered them, saying,
Will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews? For he
knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy. But the
chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release
Barabbas unto them And Pilate answered and said again unto
them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call
the king of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify
him. Then Pilate said unto them, Why,
what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly,
Crucify him. And so Pilate, willing to content
the people, released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus
when he had scourged him to be crucified." There's lots of things
going on in this passage of Scripture. There's a name repeated three
times in these 15 verses that I want to pay close attention
to this morning as we follow the Lord's leadership. Verse
number 7, the Bible says, and there was one named Barabbas. The Bible says in verse number
11, The chief priest moved the people that he should rather
release Barabbas unto them. In verse number 15, the Bible
says, So Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas
unto them and delivered Jesus when he had scourged him to be
crucified. Barabbas. Now, Barabbas is an
interesting character here in the Scriptures and one that the
Bible pays much attention to. He's mentioned in the Gospels
over and over again. in this context and in this setting.
Barabbas. On this day, we watch the leaders
of the Jews, the Jewish religious leaders, choose Barabbas. On this day, we watch the Jewish
mob led and led astray by the Jewish leaders, but doing their
own thing, choosing Barabbas. And we see Pilate on this day
choosing Barabbas. Instead of Christ, they chose
Barabbas. Instead of choosing the Savior,
they chose Barabbas. And we look at this story, and
knowing the end from the beginning, and knowing the Scriptures, we
think, sometimes it's easy for me to think, wow, I would never
do that. Wow, I would never do that, but
quite frankly, I'm convinced as I study the Scripture, the
Holy Spirit has convicted me of the fact that there are times
in my life and the times in the lives of God's people, church-going,
faithful people just like us, that instead of Christ, we choose
Barabbas. We choose something that is not
right over something that is pure and righteous. We choose
something that cannot save. over something that can save.
We choose something that cannot deliver over something that can. And may we learn today from this
man Barabbas. The Bible teaches us, speaking
of Barabbas in the book of Matthew, he says that Barabbas was a notable
prisoner. He was somebody that everybody
knows. This guy had a reputation, Barabbas. In the book of Mark,
he's a murderer. In the book of John, he is a
robber. And we'll look here as we study the Scriptures together
and think about old Barabbas. The story goes something like
this. Every year, the Roman leader, at this time of the faith released
some prisoner now the romans were notorious they were notorious
for capturing uh... insurrectionist an insurrection
somebody who was standing up against rome as here someone
who was moving against roman they were notorious for for capturing
these guys in capturing criminals in every year they would let
someone out the religious jewish leaders
delivered jesus to the roman guard and to pilot pilot says
you know i don't see any reason crucify this man just as they'd
like for me to as a matter of fact pilot says he says i know
the only reason that the jewish leaders even brought jesus to
his because they're full of envy uh... you say jesus could do
miracles and i couldn't Jesus could expound and teach the Word,
and they couldn't. Jesus was able to do the work,
and they couldn't. And so for envy, they delivered
Jesus up. Pilate, in a cowardly moment,
unwilling to stand on principle and what's right, he said, OK,
I've got a plan. I know what to do. Surely this
mob of people, as badly as they dislike Jesus, surely instead
of releasing barabas a notable criminal a murderer surely they'll
say uh... well you know if you have to
put it that way will choose jesus instead of a rather surely but
the mob cried out delivered us barabas the leaders cried out
deliver us delivered us barabas and pilot that day just to make
everybody happy you know he did He delivered them Barabbas. May
we learn today something from God's Word. The first thing I
want to draw your attention to this morning is this. The religious
leaders chose Barabbas. The religious leaders chose Barabbas. The Bible says in verse 1, in
a straight way, in the morning, the chief priest held a consultation
with the elders and scribes and the whole council and bound Jesus
and carried him away and delivered him to Pilate. I want you to
see what's going on here. These are the Jewish religious
leaders. Now, they have come to Jesus
and they say, this man is guilty of blasphemy. Why had they decided
that we have right to bring charges against Jesus? Because he was
guilty of blasphemy. What had he said? He had admitted
to being the king of the Jews. He had admitted to being the
son of God. He had declared equality with
God the Father. And because of this, they said,
aha, we got it. Now, if they had paid attention to the Old
Testament law that they declared they believed, if they had paid
attention to the Scriptures that they declared they believed,
if they had paid close attention and studied the life of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, they would have known that, in fact, the
Jesus that was before them was the fulfillment of everything
they had preached. But the religious rulers of this day were so ingrained
in doing the things they had wanted to do, the way they wanted
to do it, and they had so removed themselves from the actual Scriptures
and to the traditions of men that they were willing to turn
a blind eye. I want you to remember something
about this group of people. When Jesus was born, There was
a group of religious leaders that was in this council, that
was in this group that are mentioned the whole council in verse number
one. There were folks in this group when Jesus was born, and
there was a ruckus over a star in Bethlehem. There were religious
leaders in this day who said, said, we know what's happening,
that there's going to be a baby born in Bethlehem that's going
to be the next Savior, that's going to be the fulfillment of
the law, that's going to be the Christ that we've been preaching
and looking for. I mean, there were people in
this group who had already looked at the Scripture and said, yeah,
He's coming to Bethlehem, and Jesus was born in Bethlehem. There
were people who understood all the prophecies, and Jesus had
completely and perfectly fulfilled them. And now He's fulfilling
the prophecy as a lamb done before His shearers. He opened not His
mouth. The more these folks screamed
and yelled and accused, the more silent and quiet that our Savior
was in fulfillment of Old Testament Scripture. Now I want you to
know what these religious leaders were doing. They were choosing
something lesser than Christ. They were choosing something
less important than biblical faith. They were choosing Barabbas. This whole council came together.
The Bible says they bound Jesus. And they bound Jesus, charging
Jesus, accusing Jesus of blasphemy. The Bible says in verse number
two, they've delivered him to Pilate. The Bible says in verse
two, and Pilate asked him, Art thou the king of the Jews? And
he answered and said unto him, Thou sayest it, that you just
said it. He affirms again that he is the
king of the Jews. Pilate asked him. Now what's
interesting to me is that they've brought Jesus, the Jewish mob,
the Jewish leaders have brought him out of their Jewish court. by the way added on a day that
it was illegal court of the old testament wall to have jewish
court they've brought jesus at a time that was it was against
the old testament wall to have a trial in the dark hours of
the early early morning on the eve of the sabbath these jewish leaders disregarding
all truth that they so claim to have They take Jesus to Pilate. I want you to know something.
Pilate couldn't care less. Pilate is a Roman leader. Pilate
couldn't care less if a man blasphemed Jehovah God. He couldn't care
less if Jesus Christ of neither spoke up and said, I'm equal
with Jehovah God. I'm the king of the Jews. He
couldn't have cared less. In Pilate's mind, there was no
king other than Caesar, king of Egypt. In Pilate's mind, there
was no real crime committed against him, if a man wanted to be the
leader of the Jews. Who cares? And so this mob of
people, they changed the accusation on Christ from blasphemy to something
like insurrection. He is trying to pilot. He's trying to gather up a group
of people against Rome. Normally, the Jewish people would
have been for being against Rome. But in this case, they carry
Christ to pilot. The Bible says in verse number
3, the chief priest accused him of many things. But he answered
nothing. They accuse him, they accuse
him, they accuse him. Pilate, hearing all the accusations,
these religious leaders, what were they doing? They were standing
up against Jesus. And these religious leaders were making these accusations.
They were trying to say anything they could to make him angry
and make him to speak up and speak out. But he answered nothing. The Bible says in verse number
4, Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? Behold,
how many things they witness against thee? Pilate couldn't
believe it. He's just sitting there taking
it. And all the while we know that it's our Savior fulfilling
the Old Testament law. Verse number 5, But Jesus yet
answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled. Pilate marveled. Now at that feast he released
unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired, And there was one
named Barabbas, which lay bound with them, that had made insurrection
with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the
multitude, crying aloud, began to desire him to do as he had
ever done unto them. But Pilate answered them, saying,
Will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews? For he
knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy." Why
were they so set against delivering Christ? I'll tell you. They were
so set against delivering Christ to be crucified because Jesus
messed up their religious practice. Jesus messed up their power structure. Jesus messed up the way they
earned their money. Jesus messed up their lifestyle. Folks, I want you to know something.
If Jesus messes up anything in your life, it needs to be messed
up. If Jesus messes up the way you
earn a living, you're earning a living the wrong way. If Jesus
messes up the way you talk to people, you're talking to people
the wrong way. If Jesus destroys your business,
your business is wrong. And these folks said, you know
what? We're envious of Jesus because
Jesus is messing things up the way we like them and the way
we want them. Jesus is messing everything up. They didn't have enough character
and enough desire and enough sense to obey the Old Testament
law that they said they believed. They didn't have enough sense
to see the fulfillment of everything that they had preached and represented
for all those years. And when the choice was given
them, a critical moment in their life to accept or reject Jesus,
What did they choose? Barabbas. They chose Barabbas. I can't help but think that there
may be folks here today that you've never been saved. You've
never humbled yourself and asked Jesus to come into your heart
and be your Lord and Savior. And you think, if I get saved,
I'm going to have to give up that. Folks, I'll just tell you
something. If that is standing between you
and Jesus, it is a Barabbas. It is inferior. It is deadly. It is wicked. And it's not helping
you. It's hurting you. It's not empowering
you. It is crippling you. It is not
enabling you. It is destroying you. Because
anything that stands between you and Jesus is a Barabbas. And Barabbas is bad. You know
what these Jewish religious leaders did? They chose Barabbas. You
see, on the outside, they had the appearance that everything
was just fine. But on the inside, their hearts were black and charred
like the walls of hell. And oh, if they didn't, after
the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, repent of their sins
and turn to Christ, they've spent thousands of years regretting
that they chose Barabbas. What did the religious leaders
do? They chose Barabbas. What was their reasoning? Lifestyle. They chose Barabbas. Why? Because
they were envious? They chose Barabbas. Why? Because
they got a little chip on their shoulder? Folks, I want you to
know something. If you choose Barabbas, you've
done a terrible thing. Number two, the Jewish mob. The Jewish mob chose Barabbas.
Look at what the Bible says in verse number 11. The Bible says,
"...but the chief priest moved the people, and he should rather
release Barabbas unto them." Now this is a fascinating verse
to me because the chief priest, we just finished talking about
this group of people, and the chief priest, the religious leaders,
you know what they did? There was a mob of people there,
a Jewish mob, we're going to call them mind-numb robots. There's a group of mind-numb
robots and the religious leaders are speaking and talking and
teaching and leading this group of, this mob. These folks are
the folks who said, you know, it'll just be easier for me to
follow than it is to stand up. This is this group of people
who say, it'll just be easier for me to do nothing or to join the
crowd than it will be to stand out and go against the grain.
And so this group is led by the chief priests. Folks, I want
you to know something. The religious leaders are giving account for
the leadership that they exhibit. I read this pastor's scripture,
and quite frankly as a pastor, as a preacher of the gospel,
as a leader in this church, I tremble with the severity and the importance
that I represent Jesus well, that I stand for what's right
and for truth, whether it's popular, comfortable, But I stand for what's right,
and stand for truth, and represent Christ well. The chief priests,
what did they do? They moved the people, that he
should rather release Barabbas unto them. Listen to what the
Bible says in verse number 12. And Pilate answered and said again
unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom
ye call the king of the Jews? So Pilate turns to the mob, and
he says, What do you want me to do with this guy you call
the king of the Jews? The Bible says, verse number
13, And they cried out again, Crucify Him. Verse 14, Pilate
doubles down. Are you sure? He says in verse
14, Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done?
And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify Him. Now I want you to
just imagine for just a moment, I want you to look at Jesus.
Jesus is standing before His accusers. There's a mob of people. Now
this is Jerusalem. Jesus has done a lot of work
among the Jews in Jerusalem. And Jesus stands before this
mob of accusers. And how this mob can possibly
have forgotten what Jesus has done for them is beyond my imagination. But it happens. In that mob of
people were no doubt folks that Jesus had healed. There are no
doubt folks who had seen Christ's great works among them, who had
heard Christ's great teaching among them, who had seen the
love of Jesus to the children among them. And yet, because
everybody else was crying out, crucify Him,
And because these religious leaders, these religious leaders that
had denied the Bible, who denied the truth, who denied Christ,
and were more interested in themselves, had said, let's crucify Him.
That group of people, in the face of their Savior, cries out
again and again and again and again, crucify Him. Give us Barabbas. Give us Barabbas. I'll just tell
you, if you're here today and you're saved by the grace of
God and you know it, and the Lord Jesus changed your life,
and you've watched Jesus work in your family, and you've watched
Jesus work in your church, and you've watched Jesus do a work
in your life, and you know that God has made a difference in
your life, yet the most popular thing to say at work is just
to keep your mouth shut. degrading the Word, people are
degrading the Savior, people are degrading the church, people
are degrading what God's doing. And you know that Jesus made
a difference in your life and Jesus made a difference in your
home and Jesus made a difference in your world, but you just keep
your mouth shut. You know what you choose? You choose Barabbas
instead of Jesus. Or at your school, the most popular thing is to
Be anti-Christ. And you know Jesus has changed
your life, but when the crowd speaks, you either keep your
mouth shut or crucify Him. If that's you, God is calling
you and God is commissioning us and God is leading us to stand
up, choose Jesus and not Barabbas. Choose Jesus and not the thief
and the liar and the murderer. Choose Jesus and not Barabbas. What did the mob choose? The
mob chose Barabbas. Number three, Pilate. Oh, Pilate. Pilate goes down
in infamy as being the man who sent Jesus under his authority
to the cross. Jesus was going to pay the price
for our sins. But I don't believe Pilate necessarily
had to be the person who was involved, but he was. I want
you to see why Pilate chose Barabbas. Pilate chose Barabbas. The Bible
says in verse 15, And so Pilate, willing to content the people
released Barabbas under them. What was he willing to do? What
was his desire? You can see in the whole discourse
that Pilate just thinks, these silly religious leaders. By the
way, how well did the scribes and the Pharisees represent the
law of moses and the jewish by how well did they represent the
jewish by to the world which was represented by roman pile
how well they represent them themselves the world very poorly
they so-called religious leaders must be in tune with god They
didn't have enough character to do things right, and they
go to the world, and they go to Rome, and they go to Pilate,
and they say, Pilate, crucify this man. And Pilate says, you
know, goodness, I know why he's here, because you guys are full
of envy. It seems ridiculous in Rome, but I'll just tell you
something. Our churches are full of cowards.
They're afraid to stand up for truth and stand up for right.
And there are people who profess and praise the name of Jesus,
but they don't mind to lie if it's convenient. And there's
people who stand up and praise the name of Jesus, but they don't
mind to cheat if it's convenient. And there's people who proclaim
the name of Jesus who are lazy and sorry and the worst employees
on a job. I'll tell you something, they're
doing a poor job of representing Jesus to this world. I don't want to be in the mob.
I don't want to choose Barabbas. I want to choose Jesus. What
did Pilate choose? Pilate chose Barabbas, too. Why?
Pilate chose Barabbas because he just wanted to do what was
easiest, what would content the people. He said, I just want
to get this over with. I want to keep everybody quiet.
The Bible says, so Pilate, willing to content the people, released
Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus. when he had scourged him. What did Pilate deliver him to?
A scourging. He was beaten beyond recognition
and then to be crucified. What did Pilate choose? Barabbas.
He chose Barabbas. Let me tell you something about
Barabbas, folks. Here's what the Bible says in John chapter
number 18. I'll read it to you. John chapter 18, verse number
40. The Bible says, now Barabbas
was a robber. Barabbas was a robber. I think it's very perfect in
God's Word that the Bible says that Barabbas was a robber. Let
me tell you something about this whole scene that we need to take
to heart. You know what choosing Barabbas
did for those religious leaders? They chose Barabbas. Barabbas
was a robber. By choosing Barabbas instead
of Christ, That group of religious leaders were robbed of an opportunity
to spend eternity in heaven, in the presence of God. They
were robbed of the opportunity of the peace of God, the direction
of God, the grace of God, the mercy of God. When you choose
Barabbas, you choose a robber. Mob, what they miss out on is
they cried, Unwilling to go against the grain, unwilling to stand
up against the crowd, when they chose Barabbas and
said, I'm just going to do everything like everybody else does, and
I don't care what the Bible says, I don't care what the truth is,
I don't care what Jesus has done in my family, I'm just going
to do whatever I want to. What did they choose? They chose
a robber. And that mob of people were robbed of the presence of
God, the blessing of God, eternity with God. The grace of God, the
strength of God, the glory of God, a relationship with Jesus
Christ. Folks, because I want you to
know something, when you choose Barabbas, you choose a robber. What did
Pilate miss? Pilate missed out on the opportunity
to stand up for the King of kings and Lord of lords. And when Pilate
chose Barabbas, Pilate chose a robber. Here's where the rubber meets
the road, people. in this life, in this year, in this day, if you choose anything other
than Christ for your life, and a life that's led in submission
to the King of kings and the Lord of lords, if you choose
To lead against God's Word. To stand against God's Word.
To stand against God's Son. Or if you choose to just go with
the flow because it's easier. Or you choose to just do what's
most convenient. Instead of live for Jesus, you've
chosen Barabbas. And Barabbas is a robber. See,
I don't want to waste the one life I have. And I am absolutely certain that
to get the most out of the one life that God has given me, to
get the most out of the rest of the one life that God has
given me, the only sensible thing that I can do is devote my entire
life to service to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not calling, asking
you to quit your job. I'm just telling you to go to
your job and live for Jesus. I'm not asking you to leave your
family and go to some foreign field. I'm just asking you to
lead your family and live for Jesus. And give Him the first
place in your life. Because to choose anything other
than Jesus is to choose sin and inferior and something
that will rob you of the blessings that God desires for your life.
You know something I find ironic about the story with Barabbas
and Jesus? The mob cried out, crucify him.
The religious leaders said, we got him now. Pilate said, I don't
want to fool with you people. Scourge him, crucify him. You
know what I find ironic? On that day, Barabbas, a sinner,
a wicked sinner, was let go so that Jesus, a righteous Savior,
could die in His place. You know what Jesus did for me
and you? The same thing. I am Barabbas. I deserve to die. I was guilty of murder. I was
guilty. Yet Jesus, in love, allowed me
to be set free. And Jesus took my place. And
He paid my sins on the cross of Calvary. Because of that,
as a child, I was able to ask Jesus to come into my heart and
forgive my sins. And He paid my debt in full.
And I know for sure that heaven is my home. And I cannot be robbed of what
Jesus has done for me. What a wonderful Savior. I just
wonder, I just wonder, in your daily life, are you choosing
Barabbas or Jesus? Folks, I want you to know something.
You could not choose anyone that loves you more or knows you better
or has your greatest interest in mind than to choose Jesus
because it was that same Jesus who humbled himself, became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross, that you and I might
have everlasting life. Don't choose Barabbas. Barabbas
is a robber. Choose Jesus. He's a Savior. What a king, what a glorious
king we have in Jesus Christ. Let's pray.
Choose Jesus
Series The Book of Mark
| Sermon ID | 2619203596138 |
| Duration | 32:26 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Mark 15 |
| Language | English |
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