Good evening. Welcome to Good Friday.
I want you to feel the weight of where we are.
Jesus has already been arrested, dragged through multiple trials.
It's around 6:00 AM. He hasn't slept.
All his disciples ran away. Peter has denied him three times
and now he's standing in front of the Roman governor and things
are about to get a lot worse. Pilot has flogged him with a
whip designed to shred skin, leather strands with bone and
metal woven in. People died from flogging alone.
Then the soldiers drama jammed a crown of thorns into his skull,
put a purple robe on him and slap him in the face and mock
him. The king of the universe takes
it, every bit of it and says nothing.
Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 53 was predicted 700 years before it
happened. He was oppressed and afflicted,
and yet he did not open his mouth.
And like a lamb led to the slaughter.
And like a sheep, like a sheep silent before her shears, he did
not open his mouth. Pilot drags him out, bleeding
thorns, purple robe and says 3 words.
Behold, the man John wants us to stop and see what's actually
happening. Who this actually is.
The Word of God who existed before a creation, The one who
raised the dead, healed the blind and the lepers, fed the
thousands standing there covered in blood and spit, letting it
happen on purpose for you. Why does he lose his dignity?
Because of what we lost in the garden, the moment Adam and Eve
sinned, they felt shame and they hid.
And we've been hiding ever since.
I know what it's like to carry shame.
I used to hide my drinking. I was ashamed that I was an
addict. But when I was honest about it
and I surrendered it to God, I was free from the shame because
I realized what Jesus did for me.
Jesus, who never did anything wrong, steps in and wears the
crown of shame so we don't have to.
Isaiah 53, five says he was pierced for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us
peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Whatever you're carrying shame about tonight, Jesus already
knew about it when he let them put that crown on his head.
He saw you. The cross says your shame
doesn't get the last word. Jesus does.
It's covered. That's why the worst Day in
History was the best day of your your life.
Then Pilate hands him over, and this is the one of the most
uncomfortable scenes in the New Testament because it's familiar.
Pilate's not confused about Jesus.
Pilate found Jesus not guilty three times.
He knew he was a righteous man and he still hands him over.
This is a man who knew the right thing and chose the easier
thing. The crowd shouts.
If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend.
That one line breaks him because Pilot's whole identity is
wrapped up in his position. The second he feels that
threatened, he folds. To not be Caesar's friend would
have cost him everything. Position, status, and ultimately
his life. He folds because of the crowd.
We do this all the time. We know what the right call is
and instead of making the right decision, we delay, we deflect.
We hope the problem goes away. Avoiding the decision is still a
decision. I can relate.
When I first started working in the high school district, there
was an incident between a staff member and a student and they
have been arguing in the. The student was about to leave
the classroom and the staff member just popped off and said
some very unchoiced words, very inappropriate words to that
student, antagonistic. And that student turns around
him, hits that staff member. And because I saw the whole
thing, I had to fill out the statement, the witness
statement, and I filled it out. And but I was afraid to include
what the staff member said because I thought the other
staff members wouldn't see me as a team player, that I wasn't on
their side. I sided with the crowd instead
of doing what was right. That's Pilot's move and I did it
too. He calls for a bowl of water and
washes his hands in front of everybody.
But think about it, you don't wash your hands of something you
weren't involved in. The hand washing was his
confession. The crowd is a different kind of
tragic. Some of these people were just
waving palm branches 5 days earlier shouting Hosanna which
means save us and now they're screaming crucify him.
What happened? Unmet expectations.
Jesus didn't show up the way they wanted so they trade him in
for Barabbas, a man literally imprisoned for murder.
Pilate says shall I crucify your king?
And they say the most devastating line in the whole
chapter. We have no king but Caesar.
Their entire identity was built on God alone being their king.
And at this moment, they throw it all away to get what they
want politically. Pilot tried everything to avoid
this decision. The crowd ran straight toward
the wrong one. 2 completely different paths, same
destination. Both walked away from Jesus.
And the question tonight is, which one are you?
Are you avoiding the decision, hoping it resolves itself?
Or have you been freely choosing something that looks like it
will satisfy you and it doesn't? Both Pilate and the crowd are
physically close to Jesus and both of them walk away.
One because of fear and 1:00 because of disappointment.
But the outcome is the same. Being close to Jesus is not the
same as being surrendered to Jesus.
Proximity is not the same as commitment.
Pilot was close, the crowd was close, but close wasn't enough.
Maybe you came tonight and you're not sure what you believe
yet. You don't need to have it all
figured out. Just follow the story before
Jesus even gets to the cross. There's this moment that I think
is one of the most Lotus scenes in all the scripture.
And it happens fast. Pilot trying one more time to
get Jesus released, offers the crowd a choice.
There was a custom at Passover where the governor would release
1 prisoner, a good as a goodwill gesture, a way of easing the
tensions during this chaotic Holy Week.
Pilot figures this is his out. He puts two men in front of the
crowd. It says you choose.
On one side you have Jesus, the man who never committed a single
crime, a teacher, a healer, someone who has spent three
years giving everything to people who needed it.
And on the other side, you have Barabbas.
And John's gospel is clear who this man was.
He was an insurrectionist, a rebel, a murderer.
He had done the very thing that Jesus is being falsely accused
of, stirring up the crowd, threatening the peace.
Barabbas. He was in a Roman prison waiting
to die. His execution date was set.
Here's what's crazy. The name Barabbas in Aramaic is
2 words Bar and ABBA which means bar which means son and ABBA
which means Father. Barabbas literally means son of
the Father. So the crowd is standing looking
at two men. One is actually the Son of the
Father, the eternal Son of God standing there innocent, and the
other is a man whose name just means Son of the Father, a
guilty murderer who deserved everything that was coming to
him. And the crowd chooses Barabbas.
They choose the counterfeit Son of the Father over the real 1.
But the camera doesn't stay on Barabbas.
It follows the one walking towards the cross in his place.
They all cried out. Take this man away.
Release Barabbas to us. Release Barabbas to us.
Think about what's actually happening in this exchange.
A guilty man goes free and an innocent man takes his place.
Barabbas walks out of that prison and Jesus walks toward
the cross. That's not just an interesting
historical detail. That is the entire gospel in one
scene. That's exactly what happens to
every one of us when we put our faith in Jesus.
The guilty one goes free, and the innocent 1 takes our
punishment. There's a reason this scene is
in all four gospels. Barabbas is not a minor
character in a courtroom drama. We are the ones who are guilty.
We are the ones who deserve the sentence.
We are the ones who, by every standard of justice, should have
been handed over. And instead, something happens.
Something happened that makes no logical sense.
Jesus took our place. The crowd chose Barabbas, and in
doing so they acted out the gospel without even knowing it.
They released the guilty and condemned the innocent.
And that is precisely what the cross is about.
Well, Pilate stalled and the crowd shouted.
Jesus stood there and he chose every second of it.
Barabbas woke up that morning on death row.
He had no idea what was about to happen.
Somewhere in that prison, he could probably hear the noise
and the crowd outside, the shouting and the chaos getting
louder and louder. Then the door opens and someone
tells him you're free, that it's over, that another man was
taking his place. I don't know what Barabbas did
next, the Bible doesn't tell us. But I wonder if he understood
what just happened to him. I wonder if you ever found out
who that other man was and what he had done.
I wonder if the weight of it ever landed on him.
Because the weight of it is supposed to land on us.
If you're in Christ, you are free tonight because someone
took your place. Not because you earned it.
Not because you deserved it or you were better than Barabbas.
Not because you have something to offer.
The door open, the sentence transferred.
Jesus walked toward the cross so you could walk out.
Barabbas walked out of that prison a freeman.
The question is whether he lived like 1.
Jesus was already beaten, bleeding, and he carries his
cross toward Golgotha. Correction, Crucifixion was not
just execution, it was a carefully designed system to
deliver as much pain as possible, for as long as
possible. Nails through your wrists and
feet, and in order to breathe, you had to pull up and press on
those very wounds just to get a breath in.
All of that in public for everyone to see.
The shame was built into the design.
Jesus went through it all, all of it.
Not because he had no choice, because He chose it for you.
Jesus didn't just die for our sins.
He didn't just die as a symbol of His love for us.
He took every sin you ever committed and every sin you ever
will commit. Every wrong word, every evil
thought. Some of us are still beating
ourselves up about things we've done.
Just for a moment, I want you to think about the worst thing
you've ever done in your life. I want you to think about that
radically evil thought you had that you would never share with
another human being. Think about it.
And if that thought or that thing you've done, that if
someone found out you'd run out of here with embarrassment and
never show your face again, Jesus paid for that 2000 years
ago on the cross so you don't have to carry it.
The thing you did last week, that thing on your phone you
don't want anyone else to see the way you treated someone, the
version of yourself you've been hiding.
Jesus paid for that. Your whole guilty record was
laid on Jesus. There was a legal transaction,
just like in a courtroom. Guilt was moved from you to Him.
The Bible says He made the one who did not know sin to be sin
for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
He didn't just die for our sins. His righteousness was put on us.
His perfect record before God, His complete obedience, His
sinless life transferred to your account.
We didn't earn it. We didn't deserve it.
He went to the cross and offered us the exchange.
It says in John 1930 when Jesus had received the sour wine, he
said it is finished. Then bowing his head, he gave up
his spirit. Some of us are still trying to
to be good enough for God, still thinking if I just read my Bible
more, if I mess up a little less, get our if I just get my
act together, then maybe God will be OK with me.
That's not the gospel, that's exhausting and it's a lie.
When Jesus said it is finished. In the Greek that one word is to
talisdai, which means the account is settled, paid in
full. You don't owe what you can't
pay. Because Jesus already paid it.
The question is whether you received it.
Here's what that looks like on Monday morning.
When the guilt comes back, and it will, you don't fight it with
willpower or trying harder. You say the account is settled.
I don't owe what I can't pay. Jesus already paid for it.
You fight guilt with the truth of what happened on the cross.
That's why the worst Day in History was the best day of your
life. The account is settled, paid in
full, and now, in the quiet, it's all over.
Two men step forward, out of the shadows.
After Jesus died, two men who had been following him in secret
finally step out. Joseph of Arimathea and
Nicodemus both believed. Both were too afraid to say it
publicly. But now Jesus is dead and both
of them come forward. Joseph goes to Pilate and asks
for the body. Jesus is dead.
There's nothing left to gain and everything to lose.
And they showed up anyway. These two men who spent years in
the shadows finally step into the light at the moment everyone
else ran away. I understand that pool to try to
stay in the shadows. A couple years ago I was
interviewing for another position in the district I
interviewed. Seemed like it went well.
Couple weeks later I get a phone call, one of those off the
record phone calls and the administrator goes, hey, I need
you to convince me why you're my guy, why you're my pick.
So I start going in all the work I've done with youth counseling,
guiding, mentoring, and then somewhere in the conversation it
came out that I knew her husband.
So I go, Oh yeah, I love him. Awesome guy.
I used to work with him, man, We always used to talk about Jesus.
It slipped and I thought I'm not getting this job.
Joseph and Nicodemus kept Jesus quiet for years trying to
protect something. I almost did it in a phone call.
I end up getting the job. Sometimes it takes the cross to
finally breakthrough what's been holding you back.
They lay him in a borrowed tomb belonging to Joseph.
Jesus, the one through whom everything is created, is buried
in a tomb that doesn't belong to him.
He came into this world at a borrowed Manger, spent his
ministry with no place to lay his head, and he leaves this
world in a borrowed grave, complete loss.
He lost his dignity, his freedom, his friends, his
strength, his life, and now even his burial place, the one who
had everything, gave up everything.
The borrowed tomb is the final picture of that complete giving.
Good Friday is 1 is the one day we sit with the loss before we
move to victory. Sunday is coming, but tonight,
let's stay here for a moment after the borrowed tomb in the
garden, in the quiet, because here's what I keep coming back
to. Barabbas was a dead man walking,
but he walked out of that prison of Freeman.
Someone told him the door was open, another man had taken his
place, and he walked out. We don't know what he did with
that. We don't know if the weight of
it ever landed on him. But it should land on us.
Just like Barabbas. We were all dead in our sins and
our trespasses, lost in this world without hope, Dead men
walking. You walked in here tonight,
maybe carrying something. Maybe it's shame, like the crown
Jesus wore. Maybe it's guilt, the debt that
Jesus says is already paid. Maybe you've been like Joseph
and Nicodemus, believing something about Jesus but
keeping him quiet, staying in the shadows, calculating the
cost. Or maybe you've never met Jesus.
Maybe you've been sitting in church your whole life and
you've never actually surrendered to Jesus.
Maybe you walked in here carrying something you never
told anyone. You were invited tonight and
you're not even sure you believe any of this.
Or maybe you walked away from your faith years ago and
something brought you back tonight.
Maybe you're exhausted from trying to hold everything
together on your own. It doesn't matter where you're
coming from, the door is open. The Creator stepped into his own
creation, born into this world by the very creation He made.
He lived among His creation. He was rejected by His creation
and judged by His creation and died for His creation, hanging
on a cross made from a tree that he created so he could redeem
everything in creation. Complete loss, complete love for
you. Jesus didn't come to make bad
men good. He came to make dead men live.
That's why the worst Day in History, it's the best day of
your life. So the only question left is the
same one Barabbas had to answer when the door swung open.
So what are you going to do with it?
I asked myself daily. Is the life I'm living worth
Christ dying for? I want to give everyone in this
room a chance to respond tonight.
None of us are good people who just need a little help from
God. You are Barabbas, We all are
guilty, deserving of the sentence, and Jesus went to the
cross in your place so that the door could be open for you.
The door is open right now. The only question is whether
you're going to walk, whether you're going to walk through
that door. 2000 years ago, God sent his Son Jesus to walk this
earth, to live a perfect life, to live the life we couldn't,
and then he died the death that we deserve to pay for our sins.
He died, was buried and rose on the third day, defeating sin and
death, giving us assurance that if we put our trust in Him as
Lord and Savior that we will rise and have eternal life and
we walk. When we walk out of this life,
we will be with God for eternity.
The Bible says that you can be saved if you declare with your
mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord.
If you're willing to ask Him for forgiveness and salvation
tonight, would everyone just bow your head and close your eyes
for a minute? That's you tonight.
You want to ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, to make you
new. Would you quietly or even
silently repeat this prayer after me?
Jesus, I know I'm a Sinner and I'm lost on my own.
I can't save myself. I know I'm incapable of living
perfectly. I want you to save me.
I want to be part of your family.
I surrender everything to you. I receive your promise of
relationship, of adoption as your child, of the forgiveness
of sin, the promise of the Holy Spirit, and of eternal life.
Be my Lord, Please, Jesus, with every eye closed.
Still, if you said that prayer tonight for the first time,
would you just be brave and raise your hand for me to see?
Thank you, Amen. You couldn't open your eyes if
you prayed that prayer tonight. Welcome to the family of God.
Our prayer team is going to be coming up right now and we'd
love to pray with you. And if you raise your hand
tonight to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, we have two
tables in the back. Let's say I raised my hand.
We have a gift for you and we'd love to talk with you.
Talk with you about what it looks like to follow Jesus and
how we can walk with you on this journey.
Please stand and move as the Lord leads.