The People on the Road to the Cross

Some in family and friends and guests at campuses all over the Triangle as well as in homes all over the Triangle and around the country and even some around the world. You can all be seated if you have not already, but I want you to continue on in a posture of prayer. You may just keep your head bowed there for just a moment because you know that we are grieving the tragic loss of the eight victims, including many Asian Americans who were killed earlier this week in Atlanta. We know, we know that our words can be heard.

We know that our words can never compensate for their loss. And we want to pray that the Prince of Peace might bring healing and peace into the midst of this situation. Sin has left us a very broken world. And there are solutions, I understand, that we think about in society, but we know that nothing fixes brokenness in the human heart except for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

All human solutions have their limit, but ultimately what these things show us is how much we need the healing of Jesus. And so we want to pray. We want to pray, yes, that God would bring comfort and healing, but even more so that God would raise up and cause the gospel to surge because this is the answer to the brokenness of the world.

So would you join me, join me again as I pray. Father, God, our hearts are broken. And God, just feeling with our neighbors and our friends, God, a tragedy like this. And God, we're asking that you comfort those that have lost that pray that you would point them to the Savior who said that He is the resurrection and the life, that though He die, yet will we live? God, we pray that in this moment, this darkness, that He would be lifted up, that we would see past all of human frailty and our inability to fix what is broken and that we would look with hope and longing toward the Lord Jesus Christ who was crucified and raised again so that we could be delivered from sin.

God, thank you. Thank you, God. Pray for churches right now in Atlanta that are lifting up this message. I pray for those that are in direct contact with those that are bereaved. I pray that in all of this, you would pour out grace. God, Jesus, you would be glorified. God, show us how to be a friend and a neighbor to those around us and how to share the gospel with them. God, that heals and forgives and restores. We pray, we ask that, Father, in Jesus' name, that all God's people said, amen.

Amen. Well, Luke chapter 23, if you have your Bible this morning, and I hope that you have your Bible. I was thinking earlier as our campus teams were talking about Easter here in a couple weeks. It seems like just yesterday when we were talking about Easter coming and many of us just being absolutely certain that by Easter we would have returned back to normal.

So got that one a little bit wrong, but I'm hoping that as we're headed toward Easter this year, it seems, well, we're encouraged by the direction everything's going and looking forward to this all being behind us. Luke 23, if you've ever driven along the Blue Ridge Parkway, you might have seen a little sign that just says Eastern Continental Divide. It is the divide that marks the eastward and the westward slopes of our continent. Everything on the eastern side of the divide flows down into the Atlantic, the eastern seaboard toward us.

Everything on the western side of that divide flows toward the Gulf of Mexico, and that means that two little raindrop friends that are falling together casually from the sky, just chatting it up, the very best of friends on the way down, they land one centimeter apart on opposite sides of that divide, and they end up on opposite sides of the planet. I share that because Luke 23 is the dividing line of eternity. In Luke 23, we're going to meet several people, individuals or groups of people whose different responses to the cross literally divide them for eternity. How they handle the events of Luke 23 is going to separate them. Luke records their stories for us.

I want to show you this. Not just because they were part of the historical record, and not just because they help us understand what was taking place in Jesus's life here, but Luke records their stories because their stories are emblematic of how people in all places, at all times, in all cultures, respond to Jesus. In fact, I'm going to tell you that if you listen closely this morning, if you listen closely, you're going to see yourself in one of these groups.

I'm going to take the first five of them today, and then we're going to cover two more next week. I want you to think about your life in light of these stories. Which of these individuals, which of these groups best depicts how you respond to Jesus, how you have responded, how you are responding? Because just like those two raindrops I told you about, we got two people who exist side by side in this life.

Maybe you share the same cubicle, maybe you're part of the same family, maybe you're even part of the same small group, or maybe you're even sitting next to each other in church this morning, and you're going to end up eternities apart because of which side of these events that you are on. Here we go, Luke chapter 23 verse 1, and their whole assembly rose up and brought Jesus before Pilate. They began to accuse him and to say, we found this man misleading our nation, opposing payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, he is the king. And so Pilate asked him, are you really the king of the Jews? Person of interest number one, if you're taking notes, is Pilate. We're going to call Pilate the preoccupied. Pilate the preoccupied. Pilate is too preoccupied with other matters to give serious consideration to who Jesus actually is.

In asking the question, are you the king of the Jews? You see, Pilate's concern is not whether or not Jesus is the promised Jewish Messiah. His concern is not whether Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecies and if he's brought salvation. His concern is whether or not Jesus is a political threat to him and to Caesar. And so his question in verse 3 is a response to what the Jewish leaders say in verse 2.

Did you catch that? In verse 2 they were like, hey Pilate, you know Jesus, what he's trying to do, he's trying to pull people away from your and Caesar's political program and trying to get people engaged in his own. And so Jesus in response gives Pilate a deliberately evasive answer. In verse 3 he says simply, you say so, you say so. Now what exactly does that mean? Literally in Greek it's just two words, you say, you say. Some translations like the NIV if you have an NIV Bible in front of you, they will interpret those two words positively. As if Jesus was saying, it is as you say.

Right? Jesus is this true? It is as you say. That's positive.

Others are going to interpret it negatively. Well, that's what you say as if he's giving a negative answer. So which is it? Is it positive response or is it a negative response? And the answer is neither.

It is deliberately slippery. Why? Because Jesus is in essence saying, wrong question. He had not come for earthly political reasons one way or the other. And so to answer Pilate's question would be to concede that the question had merit. Think about it this way, if I were to ask you, have you stopped kicking your cat? Answering either yes or no implies that you have been kicking your cat.

But if you do not own a cat because you don't like to have things in your house that reminds you of the devil, then you will not give to me a direct answer because the question has no relevance for you. And so by answering this way, Jesus was saying, Pilate, you're asking the wrong question. Well, see, that's going to lead to a lengthy back and forth, which concludes with Pilate saying, verse four, I find no grounds for charging this man. A statement that he's going to repeat three different times in this chapter. He's going to say it again in verse 14.

He'll repeat it again in verse 15 and then a final time in verse 22. And so from those four repetitions, you can conclude that Pilate is absolutely convinced of Jesus's innocence and yet, and yet, in verse 23, he's going to consent to Jesus's execution anyway. Why?

Why? It is because Pilate is more concerned with appeasing the crowd than he is doing right by Jesus. You see, historians tell us that by this point in Pilate's career, Pilate was on pretty thin ice. Jerusalem had undergone several riots under his watch. And so Caesar had told him, Pilate, one more blow up, right?

One more revolt and you're finished. In fact, we know, we know that Pilate just a few years after this incident is going to lose his position because he mishandles another disturbance in Samaria. And as punishment, Caesar is going to banish him to Gaul, where according to Eusebius, he commits suicide. The point is that Pilate is so preoccupied with keeping his job that he just doesn't have time to consider a question like, is Jesus actually who he says he is? Or what is he teaching about God and is it true? Pilate just wants to know if Jesus can help or hurt him politically. To him, that's all that really matters about Jesus. In fact, in John, the Gospel of John's account of this trial, there's a particularly revealing moment. In John 18, when Jesus tells Pilate that he was sent here to testify to the truth about God, Pilate shrugs his shoulders and says, what is truth?

What is truth? In other words, I don't have time to think about that. I got a province to run. I got political pressures you would not believe. I don't have the luxury to think about these kinds of questions. They're just not that relevant to me. That's why I call him Pilate the preoccupied. Pilate is not so much a rejection of Jesus as it is indifference to Jesus.

Friend, listen to this. Distraction sends far more people to hell than disbelief ever did. Distraction sends far more people to hell, especially in a place like ours, than disbelief ever has. Pilate represents the person who is too distracted by their circumstances, too engulfed in the cares of this life, to really consider what Jesus is claiming and then to make a bold decision on him one way or the other.

You see, their whole lives, they've been laser focused on how to get the right career, how to get married, how to have a happy family, how to make these kids turn out right, how to be wealthy and financially secure. And so this morning, when you come to think about Jesus, you're like, can Jesus help me in these things or not? Like Pilate, you're asking the wrong question about Jesus. You're saying, Jesus, can you fix my family? Jesus, can you give me a happy life? Can you provide me with a husband and with kids?

Can you give me fulfillment in my career? And Jesus says, you say. You say. He's not saying he can't, just like he wouldn't tell him, Pilate, that he'd never be king of the Jews. He's saying, wrong question right now. What if Jesus was here to testify to reality that was so important that all those other questions that you've been obsessed with all your life paled in comparison to that reality? What if all your life you've been asking the wrong questions? All your life you've been taught to focus on how to get ahead, how to find that perfect marriage partner, how to be happy and healthy and financially secure. But what if the most important reality is not any of those things? It's who God is. And if you know him, and if you are prepared to meet him, and if you are living out his plan, what if you took all of your questions and you just put them aside for a few minutes and you said, Jesus, forget my questions. Who are you? What do you want? The preoccupied.

Is that you this weekend? Again, distraction sends far more people to hell than disbelief ever did. Let's keep reading because we're about to meet person of interest number two. Verse five, but they kept insisting he stirs up the people teaching throughout all Judea from Galilee, where he started even to here. Now real quick, by bringing up Galilee, the religious leaders think they're being shrewd.

A stroke of political genius, they presume. Galilee, you see, was a hotbed of dissension. Think Ferguson or the south side of L.A. By bringing up Galilee, they're hoping Pilate's going to respond with panic.

But it backfires. Verse six. Verse six, when Pilate heard this, he asked if the man was a Galilean. Finding that the matter was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days. Pilate was like, oh, Galilee, that's not even under my jurisdiction.

This is my lucky day. That's Herod. You understand I've got to recuse myself.

It's not my problem. Let's send you to Herod and let him deal with you. You see, Herod was the Jewish puppet king that Rome had placed over the rural parts of Israel. And he's person of interest number two, Herod. We're going to call him the superficial.

The superficial. Verse eight, Herod was very glad. Herod was very glad to see Jesus because for a long time, he had wanted to see him because he'd heard about him and was hoping to see some miracle performed by him.

So he kept asking him questions that Jesus did not answer him. Now, this Herod is an interesting guy who has a long history in the New Testament. And a lot of people get him confused because there's more than one person in your Bible named Herod. This is Herod Antipas, or think of him as Herod number two. He's the son of Herod the Great, Herod number one. The Herod number one, Herod the Great, was the Herod that had had all the babies younger than two years old killed when Jesus was born. Herod Antipas, his son, was the Herod that was confronted by John the Baptist for having an affair with his brother's wife. If you remember that story, his brother's wife, Herodias was her name, had been so offended by being called out in her sin that she demanded John the Baptist head on a platter, and Herod Antipas complied. Well, Matthew, the gospel writer Matthew tells us, Matthew 14, that Herod had been guilt-ridden over this, so guilt-ridden that he thought that John the Baptist just might be, I mean, excuse me, he thought Jesus just might be John the Baptist raised from the dead, come back to haunt him.

Here in this chapter, we find Herod curious about Jesus, he wants to see Jesus do some magic trick, essentially, to show off his power, but here's the key, he doesn't want to press in too much to who Jesus is, because that would require reckoning with his messy and painful history, and so he keeps Jesus at arm's length. He dabbles in Jesus, he is curious about Jesus, but only on a superficial level. You say superficial, that sounds like an SAT word. You're like, how do you know if you're superficial or just a little official, like regular official, normal official.

Superficial just means shallow in case you're, you know, whatever, you don't know the word. But Herod represents the person today that comes to church but never really gets serious about Jesus, because getting serious about Jesus would just cost way too much. You feel like to really deal with the mess that you've made out of your life, to really come clean with Jesus and to acknowledge the wrongs that you've done, to seek restitution, to really repent would just be way too embarrassing, way too costly, way too messy. In fact, maybe just like Herod here, you feel like your sin has painted you into a corner. Here's like, look, I had an affair, and then I murdered an innocent man to cover it up. There's no going back now.

Maybe you're sitting there thinking, pastor, I got mistakes, built upon mistakes and lies that are covering lies, and there's just no way I can come clean now. Listen, I got good news for you this morning. It's hard news, but it's good news. The good news, Jesus can forgive every sin.

He can break every chain. Through the power of the resurrection, he can reverse every curse. Do you hear King David testifying from the Old Testament? Herod, Herod, I did the same thing.

I did the same thing. I had an affair, and then I killed a man to cover it up, and God forgave me, and he cleansed me. He washed me, Psalm 51, with hyssop and made me white as snow. He restored to me the joy of my salvation, and he reestablished me on my throne.

Herod, he can do this for you also. You know, one of my favorite Old Testament verses is from the book of Joel, where God says to Israel, after God had sent swarms of locusts into Israel to punish Israel for their persistent sin, and God says through Joel, Joel 2.25, I will restore to you the years that the swarming locusts have eaten. The locusts had destroyed their crops and devastated their country economically, but God said to them, if you repent, not only can I make the locusts stop, I can actually restore to you the years of crops and those years of wasted harvest that those locusts destroyed.

Friend, let that sink in for a minute. You may think that your sins have so destroyed and so disqualified your life that there's no returning, but you're wrong. This is the God who resurrects the dead. This is the God who spoke into a dark, chaotic mess in the world and created the land and the continents and the skies and the seas. He's the God who calms the storms and stills the seas, who God who says, behold, I may call things new. The God who says, call unto me and I will answer you and I will show you great and mighty things that you don't know yet. The God who says, come now and let us reason together, says the Lord, that your sins are like scarlet.

I'll make them as white as snow. Friend, you can never overestimate his power to forgive. You can never overestimate his willingness to forgive.

You can never overestimate his power to heal and to restore. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all who will receive it, regardless of the circumstances and the mess that they bring into the situation. The point is not what kind of sinner you are. The point is how powerful the Savior He is.

And that's the good news. The hard news is that to get that, you've got to come to Him on His terms. And that's the place where it breaks down for many of you. It's there. Power's there. Power to forgive, power to heal, power to restore. But to come to Him on His terms means honesty, transparency, humility, surrender, real repentance, surrender.

No more games. I'm telling you, there is more grace and love and power waiting on you than you could ever imagine. But it is only available to those who come into the light and surrender. Listen, I beg you, I beg you, some of you are being tempted right now to just retreat farther and farther into sin. It was a Herod-like curiosity that brought you here. It is a superficial interest into Jesus. And now you're being tempted to just keep hiding, to let shame keep you in the shadows.

Don't do it! There is grace for you. If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just and able to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Listen, I know that road to repentance, I know the humility that is required to open yourself up and admit mistakes and come clean, I know it may seem difficult, but I'm telling you, the path of hiding is even more difficult. And let me warn you, continuing on in sin deadens you.

It's like a dark cloud that chokes out your spiritual life. The Bible talks about your conscience, how it can become hardened, calloused, seared through unconfessed sins. You just say no to the Holy Spirit so many times that you start to lose the capacity even to feel conviction of sin anymore. My mom used to always tell me, Son, whatever you do, do not deaden your conscience. Do not sear your conscience. If you sear your conscience, you're gonna lose your capacity even to hear God.

Secret sins, unconfessed sins, they corrupt you and they deaden you. What beautiful advice. Don't let that happen to you today. Today, you're listening to me.

That means there's still a glimmer of hope. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit yet again. Don't silence him. Listen, you may never have another chance like the one I'm giving you today. And in your arrogance, you think, well, there'll always be tomorrow, and I'm telling you, that's not true. You may never have another chance like the moment I'm about to give you. Right now, you're sitting here thinking, I feel like he's talking right to me. I am.

If you're thinking that, that is 100% correct. And it's not me, in fact, the Holy Spirit is talking to you. No matter where you are, he opens his arms to you and tells you to come home right now. He can rebuild what sin has destroyed. He can restore the years for you that the locust have eaten. Come to him. In fact, right now, right now, I believe, I really do, that the Holy Spirit is arresting some of you right at this very moment. And I don't wanna just pass that by.

I don't wanna just move on from this and give you the opportunity to silence him and to sear your conscience again by not acting on what's going on in your heart right now. So right now, I wanna do something. I know we're like halfway through this message.

I wanna do something pretty unusual. I want you just to bow your head right now. Everybody, at all campuses, in homes, every head bowed, every single person, every eye closed, and I wanna give you the opportunity to respond to God right now.

Listen, at the back of every single one of our campuses, there's gonna be somebody standing at the door and they are ready to greet you with every head bowed and every eye closed. Listen, if God is speaking to you right now, you know I'm talking to you. I want you very quietly to just stand up, slip out of your seat, go into the aisle, and walk backwards. Nobody is watching.

Nobody will see you. I want you to go and pray with one of our team members that is standing there and get this settled right now. This is not a great time to go to the bathroom and it's good to acknowledge that too, okay? This is for those of you right now. I know there are people now that God is dealing with. I don't want you to stand up right now and I want you just to begin to walk backwards and they'll pray. Do not silence the voice of the Holy Spirit again. If you're watching live, you can click request prayer now. If you're in a home group, you can literally hit pause on me right now and just email prayer at summitchurch.com and we will get back to you as fast as possible. Father, I pray for those right now that you're talking to, those that are responding, those that are getting up, those that are texting and emailing. God, thank you for the work that you're doing. Thank you for not allowing them to harden their hearts yet again. God, we give you thanks for that in Jesus' name, amen.

Look back up here at me if you would. Look how Herod's story ends, verse 11. Then Herod, with his soldiers, treated Jesus with contempt, mocked him, dressed him in bright clothing and sent him back to Pilate. That very day, Herod and Pilate became friends.

Previously, you see, they'd been enemies. When Jesus would not satisfy Pilate's curiosity, I mean, it should be Herod's curiosity, which Jesus never will, by the way, for those who aren't seriously seeking him. Herod's interest, you catch this, turns into mockery.

That is where this refusal to come clean always ends. If you are not seriously seeking Jesus, if you have unconfessed sin, you will find, I don't care how much you know about the Bible, you will find that you begin to mock those who do seek Jesus sincerely. It is your guilty conscience that is fueling that mockery.

You better be careful. Galatians says, do not be deceived. God will not be mocked if you do not deal with your sin. That's gonna lead you to the most extreme hostility toward Jesus. That's why verse 12 says, on that day, Herod actually became best friends with Pilate. Previously, they'd been enemies, now they're friends. Deadening the voice of your conscience ends up making you friends with Jesus' worst enemies. His worst enemies leads you to a place you do not wanna go, and I'm just saying, don't do it.

Don't do it. There's a third group in these verses, verse 10. We skipped over this. The chief priests and the scribes stood by vehemently accusing him. Person of interest, number three, the chief priests. Let's call them the religious. The chief priests were powerful people, proud people. And Jesus insulted their pride. You see, Jesus had taught that these religious leaders, despite their lofty status, despite their many degrees and many good works and perfect outward adornment, he taught that they were no better than any other sinner. They were as sinful as the tax collectors and the thieves and the prostitutes, and they needed to be forgiven just like them. But see, they'd spent their entire lives trying to demonstrate that they were better.

They were made out of better stuff. They were of a higher class. They were endowed with greater wisdom and greater moral strength, and they felt like, by this point in their lives, because they'd accomplished what they accomplished, they felt like they proved their point, and they hated Jesus for insulting their pride. And so they opposed him, not just a little. They opposed him vehemently, verse 10. They vehemently accused him.

Their opposition to him was the strongest of any of the groups in this chapter. Coming to Jesus requires a humility and a surrender that most people, particularly proud religious people, are unwilling to show. I'll go ahead and tell you right now. Churches today are full of chief priests. They're hard to spot, because they're faithful at church, sometimes the most faithful.

They're often in leadership positions. They know every word, every song, I'm positive and encouraging, K, love, because they listen to it on repeat. They frequently use the name of Jesus, but in their heart they've never actually come to him. They've never reckoned with how sinful in God's eyes they are. They've excused the way their sins is not that bad compared to others. They underestimate how sinful their sin is in God's eyes. Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, said to a room full of religious people, every sin in its essence is a killing of God.

Do you comprehend me? Every time you do what God would not have you do, you do in effect as far as you can put God out of his throne. You disown the authority which belongs to his Godhead.

You do in a tent so far as you can kill God. That is the drift of sin. Sin is a God killing thing. So I'm not that bad except for resenting God and attempting to kill him. No wonder Jonathan Edwards, the Puritan, said the holy God that we have sinned against is dreadfully provoked. His wrath towards you burns like fire. Because of your sin, he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire. He is of purer eyes than to bear you in his sight. Because of your sin, you are 10,000 times as abominable in his eyes as the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. Friend, it is only by the grace of God that any of us don't fall into hell this very moment.

The question is, are you willing to admit that? You and I are so corrupted with sin that it taints everything. I mean, imagine that you know somebody has the COVID virus. That means everything they touch has got to be wiped down.

It means the chairs they sit in, the doorknobs they touch, even the air they breathe is contaminated. That's how we are to God, but 10 billion times worse. By the way, if you think that's a little harsh or you think that basically you're a good person and God understands, then you're a chief priest. Listen, when I ask most people why they think they're going to heaven, and I do that a lot, they almost always tell me about a bunch of things they do that make them better than the average person. Well, I don't break the law, and I'm a good person, and I come to church, and I try to be a good spouse, and I give a little money. That's the answer of a chief priest. And you will oppose the true Jesus, and you will resent his rule over your life. That's why Billy Graham used to say that it's not people's sins that usually send them to hell.

It's their good works. Because their good works keep them from coming to Jesus for forgiveness of their sins. That's why in the South, the more difficult job is getting somebody lost. Once you get them lost, getting them saved is pretty easy. But the most difficult part of my job is getting people lost so that they know they need salvation. And I don't mean like pray a little prayer and did the religious thing and got back. I'm talking about where you know that apart from the grace of God, you are under judgment, and you are worthy of it, and you have no hope except for the grace of God that is expressed in Christ.

And by the way, let me tell you a little secret. When you think you got some goodness that sets you apart, when you're like, well, I go to church, right? I tithe, I'm moral. You'll resent God's absolute claim over your life. You'll want to negotiate with God.

All right, God. Okay, but because I do this, because I've been a good person, because I've been faithful, because I go to church, I expect you to bless my career. I expect you to heal me. I expect you to find me a spouse.

I expect you to make my kids turn out right. And when God doesn't do that, you resent him because you're like, he's not living up to his end of the bargain, and he owes me. He owes me.

I did all this stuff for him. Why didn't you fulfill your part of the bargain, God? But see, when you realize how sinful you are, how utterly worthy you are of judgment, you have no choice but to cast yourself down in complete surrender on God's mercy. Because everything is grace. Your pride and your independent claim over your life simply cannot coexist with Jesus. That's why the chief priests vehemently oppose him. It's like I always say, in every heart, there's a throne and a cross.

Right? And if you're on the throne, it means Jesus has got to be on the cross. Whether Jesus is going to be on the throne, you got to be on the cross. Now, what does it mean to be on the cross? It means to die to your pride and your worthiness. That cross is me. I'm recognizing that that cross is what I deserve. When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain, I count but loss. Everything that I thought set me apart from others is loss, and I pour contempt on all my pride. That means I hate it.

I think it's stupid. So see, we got the preoccupied, we got the superficial. We got the religious.

Let's keep reading. Verse 13, Pilate. Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders of the people, and he said to them, he brought this man as one who misleads the people, but in fact, after examining him in your presence, I found no grounds to charge this man with those things you accuse him of. Neither is Herod, because he sent him back to us.

Clearly, he's done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I'll have him whipped and then release him, but they cried out together, take this man away. Release Barabbas unto us. See, Barabbas had been thrown into prison for a rebellion that had taken place in the city, and for murder, a person of interest, number four, is Barabbas. Let's call him the guilty. To try and get himself out of this mess, Pilate turns toward an age-old custom of letting one prisoner go free at Passover, and in what he thinks is a stroke of genius, he offers them what he considers to be an easy choice, Barabbas or Jesus.

Now, y'all, it should have been no question. Barabbas, as indicated here, was a truly bad dude. He was guilty of domestic terrorism. He had murdered fellow Jews. In fact, the irony is that of all people, the Jewish leaders should be the last ones to want Barabbas freed, because revolutionaries like Barabbas hated the religious leaders.

They thought the religious leaders were part of the problems, that they were sell-outs to their own people, and they wanted to kill them. This Barabbas was a genuine threat to the safety of the people, and he had been rightfully sentenced to execution, so why, why choose Barabbas? Well, for one, Barabbas did not insult their pride, and they could contain Barabbas. Tom Skinner, who was an African-American pastor in Harlem, I think he probably said it the best, Barabbas is the guy who's gonna destroy the system. Barabbas is the guy who's gonna burn them out, because they were part of the establishment. Barabbas was gonna kill them. Why would they want Barabbas?

Here's why. If you let Barabbas go, and he starts another disturbance, all you gotta do is push a few tanks into his neighborhood. You can find where he's keeping his guns. You can always stop Barabbas, but how can you stop Jesus? How do you stop a man who has no guns, no tanks, no ammunition, but he's still shaking up the entire Roman Empire? Jesus was starting something they couldn't control. He was starting a revolution that would turn everything upside down, starting with their own pride and hatred. And see, people back then, like today, they don't wanna give up their pride and power. So they chose Barabbas.

They'd rather choose a public nuisance, they'd rather choose a threat to their safety than they would be to surrender their pride and power. But see, that's where the story becomes really personal for me and you, because we're supposed to see in ourselves that we actually are Barabbas. Barabbas was rightfully condemned in his sin, and so are we. Barabbas got to walk free because an innocent man died in his place. Barabbas is the first in a long line of people who are gonna be set free because Jesus dies in their place. Pastor Ricky said it last weekend. He said, we tend to forget that the people in the Gospels were real people.

And so sometimes we don't put ourselves in their shoes and think about what was this like for them? I want you to think for a moment about Barabbas. Later that day, peering out toward that hill where Jesus was dying, and I want you to picture him thinking that should be me. I should be the one dying. He is dying in my place. Friend, that's the Gospel. He didn't just die for me. He died instead of me. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free.

For God the just is satisfied and looks on him to pardon me. Every one of us who have come to Jesus have to get in line after Barabbas. We have to say I'm on Barabbas' team to identify with him and say another bore my guilt and died in my place. In fact, let me tell you something really interesting about Barabbas' name. In Aramaic, that's the language that Barabbas is in. In Aramaic, Barabbas literally translates as son of a father. Bar, son of. Abbas, a dad. Son of a dad. Let me talk about a generic name, right?

Barabbas. If you're a son or a daughter of a dad in here, you've got his name in Aramaic. That's intentional because he represents all of us.

His story is the story of every son or daughter of a dad in here. This is the essence of the Gospel. By the way, one thing that I want you to notice here, this whole trial is unjust.

You see that? Nobody really cares about the truth. Jesus is just a pawn.

His politicians try to protect their position and proud people try to protect their privilege and get their revenge. Verse 23, but they kept up with the pressure demanding with loud voices that he be crucified and their voices won out. Verse 24, so Pilate decided to grant their demand.

Verse 25, and he released the one that they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for rebellion and murder but he handed Jesus over to their will. Jesus dies as a victim of horrible injustice. The trial is a sham.

And by the way, could I just add this real quick? I hope that that gives some of you comfort when you suffer unjustly. The most innocent man ever to live was tried unjustly and died under false pretenses. I'm telling you that so you understand that he understands when you go through it. My friend, Pastor at the Beatty, said we ought to stop and consider the fact that Jesus, the most innocent man to ever live who did everything right was falsely accused and condemned by a court, an unjust court, so that when it happens to us, we know we have a savior who understands, who entered into that injustice with us, who feels it with us, and came to deliver us from it.

So why? Why did Jesus go through with this? Well see, when you see that you're Barabbas, what you see is that he was burying our injustice. Luke tells us that in the midst of all of this unfairness and all of this unjust accusation, that Jesus just stood there silently. Can I ask you, when you stand silent before an accuser, when you stand before somebody, whether it's in a courtroom or not, who is accusing you of things, and you stand there with no response, no objection, what are you conceding? Guilt. So why was Jesus conceding guilt? What was he ever guilty of? In that moment, he was pleading guilty to my sin. You see, behind the chief priest, and behind the religious leaders, and behind Pilate, pointing all their fingers at him and accusing him, listen, Jesus saw God the Father, who was pointing at him, and in that moment, he was accusing Jesus of J.D.

Greer's sin. And Jesus stood there and pled guilty to my sin. He pled guilty to your sin. He pled guilty to Barabbas' sin. And he died in our place, guilty, vile, and helpless. We, spotless Lamb of God, was he full atonement.

Can it be? Hallelujah, what a Savior. We are Barabbas. God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. You see, there's one more person I want to show you real quickly before we close. Look at this, verse 26. As they led him away, they see Simon the Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country and laid the cross on him to carry behind Jesus. Person of interest number five, our final one, Simon the Cyrenian, the disciple, that's what we'll call him.

Hey, here's a question. Why do you think Luke stops to tell us this man's name and where he's from? I can understand why Luke records the story.

It's a significant moment. Jesus is so weak and staggering under the weight of the cross that he stumbles, and God has to get somebody to help him carry the cross that shows us how much Jesus was suffering, so I get why he told us about the situation, but why give us his name? And by the way, not just his name, but where he's from.

In fact, listen to this. In Mark's account, Gospel of Mark's account, Mark also mentions the names not just of Simon and where he's from, but also Simon's two sons. He said his sons were named Rufus and Alexander. Now, Gospel writers don't typically mention the bios of other random people in the Gospels, and the guard who gave Jesus vinegar to drink was named this, and this was his favorite color and this is all tall.

He didn't say any of that. The one who saw the veil torn, he didn't give any of that detail. So why all that detail about Simon? It's because Simon of Cyrene was a known figure in the early church. First readers of Luke's Gospel would have been like, oh, Simon of Cyrene?

That dude's sitting right over there. The dad of Rufus and Alexander, I know him. I didn't realize that he was there for all of this. By the way, Romans 16, 13. The apostle Paul says to greet Rufus, who is chosen in the Lord and his mom, who's been like a mother to me also. Scholars say it is almost certain that that's the same Rufus mentioned in the Gospel of Mark as the son of Simon. That means that Simon went on to become a follower of Jesus, and not only that, he led his wife and his two sons to faith in Christ. I don't know if you picked this up, but in Romans 16 when Paul greets him, Rufus is the only one that Paul describes as chosen in the Lord. You see, the apostle Paul recognized that there on that road to Calvary, even as Jesus' body staggered under the weight of the cross, he was still sovereignly choosing a man and his wife and his sons to follow him and become his disciples. When you pull back the veil, what you're gonna see in Luke 23 is that this was not a weak savior who needed help.

This was a strong and sovereign savior who was extending salvation to those that he chose, even at the moment of his death. You see, that leads to my last little bit of good news. Simon's story is an invitation. It's an invitation to you. He's extending that invitation to you. He is calling you right now from Luke 23 to become his disciple.

We've been talking about this for the last several weeks. We're not looking for you to pray some prayers and raise your hand and even just get baptized. We want you to really become a true disciple of Jesus, a follower, not just to believe, but to lead your family and your friends to Christ and to carry the cross that he has for you into the world. Just like he chose Simon and offered him a cross, he is choosing you and offering you that cross. He's got great things for you. He's got a specific mission for you to fulfill, people that he wants to use you to bring to Jesus. He's got a role for you to play in his kingdom that will impact eternity.

The invitation of Luke 23 is, are you gonna accept? So who are you? Who are you? Are you the preoccupied like Pilate? Are you the superficial like Herod? Are you the religious like the chief priest who's never really humbled yourself and cried out for God's mercy? Are you the guilty? Have you acknowledged that you're the guilty like Barabbas? Have you become the disciple like Simon of Cyrene? Hey, these first three right here, these first three are why people resist Jesus, especially people in church. See, friend, once you come to realize you're number four, that the sentence of condemnation is on our heads and it's rightful, once you realize that, you're on your way to becoming number five.

The good news is that Jesus died for all these groups, to the distracted, to the distracted. Jesus says, Isaiah 118, come now, come now. Let us reason together, says the Lord, that your sins are like scarlet. I'll make them as white as snow.

That they're red like crimson, I can make them as wool. To the superficial and to the religious, Jesus says, 1 John 1-8, hey, if you say we have no sin, you lie and the truth is not in you, but if you will confess your sin, he will be faithful and just to forgive you of sin and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness. And to all of us, he says, John 1-12, as to as many as received him, to them he gave the right, the privilege, the power, the responsibility to become the children of God, even to those who believe on his name. So the question is, are you gonna receive that invitation? Are you gonna receive it? Why don't you bow your heads one more time, if you would.

Bow your heads. Are you ready to receive him? Are you ready to receive him?

If so, you can pray these, you can use the very words I'm going to give you, but just make sure they come from your heart. Jesus, I receive your offer of salvation. And I accept your call to become your disciple. I receive your offer to forgive my sins.

I receive your offer of salvation and I accept the call to become your disciple. Did you just pray that? Did you just pray that?

Right now, with every head bowed, every eye closed, nobody's looking around. When she very quietly take out your phone, when she texts the word ready, R-E-A-D-Y, to 33933. Again, text the word ready to 33933. Somebody will respond to you and show you what these next steps look like. Don't wait, do it right now.

Just text the word ready to 33933. Some of you have never been baptized. We're going to be doing that here in a couple weeks and some of you need to make that decision right now. I'm going to be baptized. Baptism is your first, it's your public, it's going public with your acceptance of Jesus. Some of you have never done that. Some of you, it's because you just prayed with me right now to receive Christ.

Some of you, you've done it in the last few weeks. Some of you have done it years ago, but you've never been baptized as a profession of your faith. If so, I want you to also text the word ready to 33933. You look up here at the screen and it's right, if you just need to sneak a peek, you can see the word ready, 33933.

Just text it and we'll respond and we'll start a conversation with you about what this looks like so that you can decide if you're ready to do this. Again, if you want to be baptized, also text the word ready to 33933. Father, I pray for those in whom you're working, I knew, I knew this morning you were going to do something and you have. So I pray for those who you're speaking to, give them the faith to believe, the humility to respond, the courage, the courage to finish what you're doing in their heart. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.