Matthew Pt. 105 - Pastor Alan Ninan

Good morning everybody. Is my is the mic thing on?

OK, perfect. So I was talking to John Michael

about preaching this morning. I was super excited to hear from

them that they actually got to rest this past week.

They've been praying for you and thinking about you, but know

that they had a wonderful time away and they are flying back

later this afternoon. Knowing that, you know, I'm

pretty sure they're probably listening in right now, but they

wanted me to send their love to you before we got started.

As Adam said, we are continuing our series in Matthew and we

are. I think I counted 106.

We're on part 106. And as you turn to your Bibles,

to Matthew, 27 verses 1523 is what we're studying.

I want to give a quick recap because there is a lot, a lot is

going on. We're at the climax of Jesus

earthly ministry. Thousands of Jewish pilgrims

have poured into Jerusalem. The religious leaders, the

beginning of today, have arrested Jesus, put him before

Pilate, then Herod, then back to Pilate and they're charging him

on false accusations. None of what was brought before

him was true. We see that the pilot knows that

they're all lying, they're being driven by envy and he's

discerning of this. But yet Jesus, his response is

not to answer these accusations, but Jesus is very clear and not

responding to this. This is amazing.

And there's a there's a prophecy that's fulfilled in Isaiah 53

with Jesus response that he was meant to be a lamb, led to the

slaughter, giving his life up willingly that no one would take

it from him. This this is what stage we're

at. We have Jesus not responding.

We have him before Pilot and now the stage is set as we start

reading in verse 15. Now at the feast the governor

was accustomed to release for the crowd anyone prisoner 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 to release for you?

Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ?

For he knew that it was out of envy they had delivered him up.

Besides, while he was stirring on or sitting on the judgement

seat, his wife sent word to him. Have nothing to do with that

righteous man, for I've suffered much because of him today in a

dream now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd

to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.

The governor again said to them, Which 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 they said, let him be

crucified. And he said, why, what evil has

he done? But they shouted all the more,

let him be crucified. Heavenly Father, I pray that

you'd be honored by the preaching of your word, that the

people would marvel at how incredible you are Jesus, that

prophecies are foretold that you are King and that you are Lord,

and that our hearts and our minds would be open to receive

the goodness of the gospel, the goodness of God, and the

outworking of your Spirit. And we see such incredible

pictures of the gospel in this passage may be received.

May it be known we may be so excited to receive the Word

today in Jesus name, Amen. So today as we're studying this

passage, there are there are three major themes, three major

points that I want to make sure that we're covering here.

The one is pilot's moral dilemma, his crossroads to

compromise. Second, it's going to be the

layers that are involved with the crowd's response and why

it's so massive that they chose the guilty Barabbas.

And then third, we'll cover that we as a church, we are Barabbas

and that we deserve what Barabbas received.

Starting with the first point of pilot, we look at verse 15, the

feast the governor was accustomed to.

This is a very key part of the trial when when Matthew inserts

this as an interjection within the passage, first thing to

notice is this was a local custom that was there.

He knew, OK, Passover is going on.

It's super busy. Let's let's pick this as my

scapegoat. This is going to be the

opportunity. I know Jesus is innocent, but I,

I need to find a way because my I know I don't want to put this

man away. What am I going to do?

This, this phrase here that he was able to say, Yep, this is

going to be my loophole. I'm going to abdicate my

responsibility away from me making this seat, even though

he's sitting on the judgement seat, mind you, to the crowd.

A lot of biblical scholars point out that Pilot was primarily

motivated by political gain. I know it's a it's a big

surprise that the governor was motivated by political gain.

But the three big things that we think about with that motivation

is he wanted to appease the crowd.

We know that there's a mob mentality going on.

The people are at civil unrest during Passover.

They're they're expecting that He's expecting them to riot.

He wants to appease them in some way by giving this choice.

Yep, we'll let someone go. Second, he's experiencing this

pressure from the religious leaders constantly coming to

him. Hey, execute Jesus, execute

Jesus. He's been put back and forth

between the different Roman governments.

Third, like I'd mentioned, to avoid personal responsibility,

he didn't want to make the call. This was a very difficult call

for Pilot to make. He knew internally, man, this is

awful. Like Jesus is innocent.

He's clearly and what's interesting here is pilots plan

in this this loophole in this that's clear is that hey, I'm

going to I'm going to raise up a prisoner, A notorious prisoner.

Maybe if I raise this guy that's just so notorious that people

must see they must pick Jesus in this instance.

That's what he's thinking. Obviously we know his plan

didn't work and God's plan worked ultimately, but let's

think about who who is Barabbas? Barabbas is is not just a normal

guy. Matthew calls him a notorious

prisoner. When we look at all the gospel

accounts put together, obviously this gospel Matthew is written

to a Jewish audience. Each of the gospels are

representing a grand story, and they're all consistent.

But when we think of what Barabbas is, he was claimed to

be a thief, an insurrectionist, which is a fancy way to say that

he revolted against Rome. And during one of those revolts

and those rebellions, he actually committed murder.

So Barabbas is not a nice guy. Barabbas is is a criminal in all

sense of the word. What's furthermore, something

interesting that as I was studying this is Barabbas's full

name is actually Jesus Barabbas. When you look at the other

Gospels, it's Jesus Barabbas, which in Aramaic is translated

to Son of a Father. Humour me the irony of what's

going on right now in front of Pilate.

His plan is, hey, I have the son of an earthly father pitted

against the son of a heavenly Father.

We've got this, this dichotomy, this contrast that is happening

as Pilate is thinking, Yep, they must, they must pick the Christ.

They must pick Jesus in this instance.

If I put this criminal, maybe they'll choose that choice.

And what's interesting is I think of I think of Pilot's mind

during that time. He is this moral dilemma of

trying to free Christ, having this idea that he is innocent.

And it goes on to say even his wife had come to him in a dream.

Have nothing to do with that righteous man.

For I have suffered much over him today in a dream.

Just as an aside, a dream is a big deal in in in the Roman

world. Like it's like an omen.

It's not like we have a pizza dream.

We're like, oh, wow. I wonder if that means something

for for them in that time that a dream was like a it was enough

to wake her up enough for her to send someone out and to

interrupt this trial and to send word do nothing with this man.

This is key. And here's here's the irony, the

level that I want to make sure we don't miss here.

Who is this woman? Who is his wife?

This is a Pagan woman. This is a Roman woman.

This is a woman who has no Jewish faith.

And she showed more moral clarity than the religious

leaders in the crowd by saying do nothing with him like it is.

Oh man, I get so excited just looking at this woman realizing

wow, Jesus is innocent and then noticing you would think, hey,

Pilot must snap out of it. Come on, make the right

decision. But you can tell as this message

was sent to him from his wife. The religious leaders at the

time use that opportunity to persuade the people.

The word for envy that was driven up in their heart is very

distinct. It's a malicious envy.

It is a, it is a hard shift in their mind to say, Yep, I'm

going to deceive these individuals to pick Barabbas.

However, Pilate is still on the judgement seat.

He is still responsible to make a just decision.

And he's thinking, wow, I still have this loophole.

Hopefully this custom will let me get out of this.

And even still, he's still working this plan.

And I believe that we stand at a similar crossroads all the time

to make the right decision versus the wrong decision.

Obviously, let me be clear, this is all part of God's redemptive

plan, but I want to make the clear point.

We we see Pilot and think of him like, oh man, I would never.

But how often do we stand before a decision of a crossroad of

men? This is the crowd.

This is the pressures of life telling me to do something.

This is what the Lord wants for me.

We often choose the one that's easier, that's comfortable.

Instead of picking what the Lord intended.

I think about my work life. I used to work at a lot of

corporate offices, manage a lot of people in, in big

organizations. And every Thursday or Friday, it

was an opportunity for me to lean in and talk about, hey,

what are you doing this weekend? What's, what are you doing?

And the Holy Spirit would often nudge me and say, hey, why don't

you talk about church? Hey, why don't you talk about

hey, Sunday, you're doing this thing or hey, there's this Bible

study on Tuesday. And it was clear the Lord was

nudging me. But instead of following what

the Lord is leading towards, I chose like Pilot to set man the

pressures of the crowd calling me the weird person at work or I

don't I don't want to be alienated.

I don't want to be set apart like that overtook me in that

moment. Similar to Pilot feeling this

gripping on his heart to say, yeah, I'm going to falter on my

value system. I'm going to choose something

different or I think about in my home life.

There was a period in my life that I was not I was not leading

early on in our marriage. I knew that I needed to.

I knew that it was important. I knew it was something that was

key, but I I made my own loophole.

I made my own custom of oh, everything is fine.

That's fine. I'm we have a better marriage

than people around us. Everything I see around me, it's

it's good. It's good, but that easier Rd.

that path of falling. Yeah, I'm going to follow the

culture. The culture says, hey, marriage

is this this level not what the Lord intended.

That's fine. Instead of having the conviction

to realize man, it is a high calling, it is meant for so much

more. And Pilot, I felt the same

crossroads, the same man. The crowd is telling me this and

I'm going to follow. Instead of man, I should have

made the right call on the judgement seat.

We're called to be set apart. We're meant to be different.

Someone didn't tell you that we're meant to be different, and

that's OK. That's a good thing.

And now I hope to not step on toes by saying he's next to, but

I love you. As parents, we we have a

culture, we have a community. We have people that tell us to

do numerous things, fill our schedules up, get busy, be on

endless screens, be be sheltered into what the culture is

preaching, following the crowd instead of making the hard

decision and saying I'm going to follow the Lord, I'm going to do

what's right. When a judgement call like this

is strong, we have it every day as parents, every moment.

Thank God his mercies are new every day.

But there are moments by moments, there are hard

conversations that we're avoiding that could be so

beneficial. He's innocent, Jesus, innocent.

That hard conversation, that hard moment we're not stepping

into as parents and the cost, the fruit, the death of an

innocent Savior. We learned from the gospel that

Pilate knew everything. He knew that he, he's on the

judgement seat. It's not like he's not in a

position of power. It's not like he can just go,

hey Jesus, you're acquitted, you're all good, can move on.

He has that power, but he still chose not to.

All right, this this last one might be a little close to home,

but it's all good. The internal struggle.

You might be sitting here thinking you have an internal

struggle, a hidden sin, something that you've never said

out loud to somebody, a conviction morally that you're

like, man, people at church are going to see me differently.

Or I've I've been following what the crowd has been following for

so long. How could I ever come up to this

crossroads and pick the right decision?

I'm not saying you need to stand up in front of the church and

announce your struggle right now, but there might and

honestly, Lord tells you to then please do that.

But it's clear in God's word, you're not meant to do this life

alone. You're not meant to live in

isolation. You're meant to live in

community with there might be someone here that's can be that

comfort that can release you from that pain that Pilot is

feeling and saying Jesus innocent and you can feel

finally the freedom fear does not need to hold us anymore.

We can make a decision to live in freedom instead of taking the

personal cost, instead of advocating away the personal

responsibility that Pilot should have taken because his long term

avoidance never actually protected him.

It only deepened the weight that he was carrying.

Going back to Pilot three times. He knew Jesus was innocent in

this time. He knew the motive behind the

arrest. His his wife even warned him so

clearly, so directly. He knew it all.

But he's still folded. We're not so different.

We have we have the word of God. We have this whole Bible.

You think about the New Testament believers do that.

Did they? They did not have all this.

They didn't have commentaries, they didn't have YouTube.

They didn't have none of it. We have the word, we have the

Holy Spirit and we have one another as a body of believers

believe that we know that yes, most times we're we're, we're in

this crossroads of not following what God has called us to be at

times, but that doesn't mean that's the end.

It's not. Here's the amazing part of this.

Even in the midst of Pilot's failure, Jesus is king.

I want to make this contrast that Pilot is a failure, but

Jesus is still a king. He's sitting there not

responding to these accusations, and he's standing there saying,

even in the midst of your failure, my plan will be

happening. The redemption of the Lord, the

redemption of our souls are still happening.

The innocent Lamb of God was handed over according to the

determined purpose and foreknowledge of God that God

used even pilots weakness to accomplish our rescue.

Jesus is never stopped by our fears.

Praise the Lord or our failures. Or when we fold because there's

forgiveness, there's grace to help us stand more faithfully

next time. Jesus stayed completely focused

on his mission, and he wasn't he.

He may not have been standing on that temporary judgement seat,

but he's sitting on the eternal judgement seat and he is still

reigning. And it is so good that we

remember that He died for us, guilty people like us.

And that moves me to the next point of the crowd.

The crowd's response in this passage is so hot. 1st, I want

to talk through the dangerous power of persuasion of the

religious leaders. Then we'll talk about the

fickleness of the human heart. We know that the chief priests

and the elders, after pilot's wife had given that message, was

actively persuading the crowd. Can you imagine?

These are pastors. These are leaders who are driven

by envy, are shifting and manipulating the people away.

What does that mean for us? We have to protect our hearts.

We have to guard our hearts. We have to be aware of what's

going through our ears. We have to know our Bible.

I'm not saying don't trust your pastor, but read.

Read behind us. Read it, know it.

It's it's OK. It's safe for the common person

to pick up the Bible and verify what's going on.

And as as Adam actually alluded to, like we're always listening

to a podcast, another pastor, another YouTube, another this

like having clarity and conviction, something Pilot

lacked, something the crowd lacked.

And the reason that they were manipulated in that moment by

their leaders, they they should have known better.

The crowd made a clear conscious decision.

Pilot gave them two very clear names.

Which of the two do you want me to release for you?

Barabbas Then the most important question that is in this that we

have to face, every single person has to face, what shall I

do with Jesus, who is called the Christ?

You may not have to ask that question today, might not be

tomorrow, but it we must all answer that question.

Will we submit to Him? Will we yield to Him?

Will we follow Him? Or will we reject Him?

It's a very key decision that has to be made.

I urge you to follow him. But the people shouted back.

Let him be crucified. When Pilate even pressed for a

reason why, what evil has he done?

They shouted louder. There was no evidence against

Jesus. They made a deliberate decision

to reject the innocent man and free the guilty one.

Scholars talk about this being the fickleness of the human

heart. I thought fickle was a very big

word that I didn't understand. So I've changed it to saying an

unsteadiness in our heart. What is that?

What is an unsteadiness? What do I mean by that?

Think about it. Think about these people just a

few days before, few days before we're in Passover week, they're

shouting hosanna in the highest, this is the highest praise to

this Jesus that they've just screamed to crucify.

I can't like I can't imagine they were treating a promised

king in one day and then a couple of days later they're

saying, Yep, let's crucify him. They demanded the innocent Jesus

be crucified. It talks about in a lot of

different commentaries on how in one moment, and I'm sure we've

all felt this way, that we have these spiritual highs and then

these spiritual lows and they they take us like waves in the

ocean. Obviously there's nobody here at

Saul Church. We're all on fire for the Lord.

But why does it happen? How does it happen?

The pressures that come from daily living, the pressures that

come from leaders and work and life and the desire to fit into

a slow drift that our hearts become unsteady.

Well, what do I do about that? How do I, how do I remedy this?

It's very clear in the Scripture and all throughout all

throughout the Bible that we need to have Our Daily Bread.

I know it's a Captain Obvious answer to think about, but it's

something that's neglected and often needs to be said and

repeated. It's OK to hear some repetition

that we need Him like daily bread.

Just like human beings cannot survive without eating physical

food, we need the spiritual food of the Father every single day.

It can be easy to overcomplicate the daily connection, but I want

to emphasize that that daily connection helps solidify our

identity in Christ. It helps us not drift away and

to make our identity what it's not meant to be in our jobs or

in our roles and our homes, but that our walk with the Lord

grows stronger with that daily connection.

It helps that unsteadiness, that reality that we're facing.

Now. I want to point out the biggest

irony that the crowd did not realize.

Like I mentioned, we're celebrating Passover all over

Jerusalem. Families are carefully choosing

lambs. If you didn't know the process,

it was a spotless lamb. This, this process to pick a

lamb, you would think, oh, it's simple.

We just go to the farm and get the lamb.

It's good. No, this is like spotless.

They're a little, little speck there.

Speck there no go. Like this was something they

trained to get this specific lamb for.

And every year they're sacrificing these lambs is a

temporary offering for their sins.

And right in front of them stood the Passover Lamb of God, the

final lamb that needed to be slain for their sins.

And yet they're they're crucifying him, the perfect Son

of God. The crowd continued to choose

Barabbas. They choose, they chose the son

of an earthly father, their own fleshly desires.

They just chose, you would think during the week they were

liberated, they're being celebrated to liberated from

Egypt, that they would see this irony that they're seeing Jesus

the Christ, but they missed it. And that's kind of brings me to

my final point that we are Barabbas.

We look back at the whole passage.

Pilot begins by giving them a choice.

Do you want Jesus Barabbas? Do you want Jesus who is called

the Christ? Barabbas was clearly guilty.

The Gospels described him as a robber, a rebel.

He led uprisings against Rome, and a murderer.

He was a criminal that shed innocent blood, and under Roman

law, he would have been sentenced to die on a cross.

And the soldiers were probably already on their way for his

execution that morning. The reason I say that we are

Barabbas, obviously I don't know everyone's history, but I don't

think we've committed some serious heinous crimes.

We haven't robbed somebody, but before a holy and righteous and

incredible God, our rebellion against him, our self-centered

lives, our sin that deserves that same judgement that

Barabbas deserved is even worse. It's that one drop of poison.

I don't want one drop of poison. I want to be fully, fully whole

that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, that

we've a rebelled against our creator in our own ways and that

wages of that sin is death and we deserve what Barabbas

deserved. What's astonishing is I'm

imagining this playing the story playing out that Barabbas is

selected and he's sitting there thinking, wow, I was meant to be

led to a cross, but instead I'm being let free.

The guilty man walked free and Jesus was taken in his place.

And I'm I'm closing Jesus, who never sinned once took that

punishment. He is not a helpless victim

caught in a bad situation from some Romans and some Jews.

He was in complete control. He was willing to lay down his

life while the crowd chose Barabbas.

Jesus was choosing us. He was choosing to die in our

place. He took what belonged to us.

He took our judgement with joy. With joy.

I don't know about you, but I'm not looking at a cross with joy.

But it was the joy set before him, which is US today,

remembering that powerful picture of Passover.

The year after year after year, the lambs were slain as a

temporary covering for sin. That their blood can only push a

temporary. That on that very day, the true

Passover Lamb, Jesus himself stood before them, his sacrifice

final and perfect. He died once for all.

That no more repeated offerings were needed.

That the blood of Lamb, the blood of the Lamb of God, takes

all the sins away forever. The simple invitation of the

gospel is available today. That Barabbas was set free, that

we are able to be set free as well.

I'm not going to assume that you've called Jesus Christ your

Lord and your Savior. That's between you and him.

But know that you're not just getting saved from hell and the

grave. Yes, of course it's great.

But befeeing A disciple, a follower of Christ and loving

Him forever. I serve an amazing king and I

want you to invite you to him when I'm praying.

If you're a follower of Christ and you love Him, there are

going to be opportunities where you're at the crossroads, like

Pilot, to make decisions in your workplaces, in your homes, in

your daily living. I challenge you to pick the

choice that would honor the Lord and like the crowd, choose.

Choose not to put Christ back on the cross and crucify Him, but

live as He is raised. Live like He is alive today.

We have the Word, we have the Holy Spirit, we have a

confidence that He is with us and He is for us.

So I'm going to pray to close this out.

Oh, Jesus, thank you for your son.

Thank you for the Lord. Thank you for the Savior of the

world. Thank you Jesus, that you sent

your Son to die a brutal death on that cross, that you were

dead, that you were raised for us, and you're seated on the

right hand of the Father and the invitation is open that we may

have life abundantly through you.

Jesus, I pray there is heaviness in all different places and

spaces. I don't know what someone walked

in here with, but Father, I give that burden to you.

I implore everyone on the sound of my voice to feel the freedom

that comes from Christ, that He would be magnified and glorified

with the action that was required from the Word Jesus.

Thank you that you are King and you are Lord of our lives, in

Jesus name, Amen.