Luke 22:54-23:25

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I'm ready to get into it. Okay. We good? We are still in Luke, but boy, we are getting close to the end. We are getting close to the end of Luke. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And uh I want to jump into so we've just finished last week. Adam walked us through the betrayal of Jesus. Now we're going to be starting in verse 54 of chapter 22. We're going to jump into a bit of chapter 23 as well today. This is what it says. So they arrested him and led him to the high priest's home. And Peter followed at a distance. The guards lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter joined them there. A servant girl noticed him in the firelight and began staring at him. Finally she said, This man was one of Jesus' followers. But Peter denied it. Woman, he said, I don't even know him. After a while, someone else looked at him and said, You must be one of them. No, man, I'm not, Peter retorted. About an hour later, someone else insisted, This must be one of them, because he is a Galilean too. But Peter said, Man, I don't know what you're talking about. And immediately while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. At that moment, the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly the Lord's words flashed through Peter's mind before the rooster crows tomorrow morning. You will deny me three deny, excuse me, you will deny three times that you even know me. And Peter left the courtyard weeping bitterly. I want to stop right there, real quick. Jump back for me. As we walk through this, I want to recognize something because I've preached on this moment a lot. But one of the things that we need to capture is that these are people with feelings and uh worries and concerns like you and me. You read a story, you're like, Jesus, uh, excuse me, Peter, you spent three years with Jesus. How are you gonna bail on him? You've seen him raise the dead, heal blind eyes, the lame walk again. You've seen every kind of disease healed, you've seen demons cast out of people. You saw Lazarus, who was dead, be called back from the dead, and now you're worried, and we look at that and we think, man, how could you be afraid? But this is what you need to know about discipleship in that time. Whatever would happen to the rabbi would happen to the disciples. So as the rabbi, Jesus, his rabbi, is taken and betrayed, and things are looking bleak at best, Peter is worried that I might have this same fate awaiting me. And fear has gripped him. And so I don't mock Peter, but I want to empathize with him because can I tell you something? There's been times in my life where I've had a personal desire to be close with Jesus, but a public fear of declaring him as Lord. He personally was close enough to see Jesus, but he was too afraid to proclaim his kingship and his lordship. Yes, I do know Jesus. Fear had shut down the public side of his confession, even though the personal side said, I gotta be near him so I can see him. And so I don't belittle Peter and I don't make fun of Peter sometimes, but I don't in this moment don't make fun of Peter. I don't belittle him. I look at him and I say, Man, I fear is a cruel master. It's cruel. I know people that they are not anywhere close to their destiny because fear has them boxed in to a cell that is invisible. They won't step out and serve in a church in any way because they're afraid. Like, what if people really knew who I am or what I've done? How could I ever serve God in any way that's significant? I don't know. Moses killed somebody and led the children of Israel out of Egypt. I don't know. Abraham dealt with issues where he denied that his wife was his wife and said it was my sister so that he wouldn't be killed because she was so beautiful. Like we're looking throughout scripture at flawed people. And yet we get to ourselves and we let fear tell us, man, the worst is gonna happen for you. And we then will swallow that pill. I I feel like when fear becomes your master, it becomes almost impossible to be obedient to Jesus because Jesus leads us into uncomfortable places. There are times where he leads you beside still waters into green pastures and praise God for those moments. But he doesn't always lead you beside still waters and green pastures. After Jesus fasted and prayed for 40 days, where did the Holy Spirit lead him? Into the desert to be tempted by Satan. I want to be led to the buffet to be tempted by Soft Serve, right? Like that's the but that's not how we really work. And so fear is a cruel master, and I see Peter having this moment unfolding where he is gripped with fear, denies Jesus, the rooster crows, they make eye contact. Can you imagine? And Peter left the courtyard weeping bitterly. Have you ever ever experienced that where you're like your sobs you can't control? Can't control how you look, you can't hold it in anymore. It physically overtakes you. Can you imagine? He's running away from that place. He's running away from his savior, he's running away from his friend, he's running away from the one he claimed was God. Peter made the declaration, you are the Messiah, you are the Son of God. I'm gonna just say really quickly, if you deal with fear, you're in good company. And I don't mock you, and I don't make fun of you, and I don't belittle you. If you're it some people are you're stuck in a job right now and you're like, man, I don't know that this is what God has for me. And there's a fear to step into what he might have for you. Some of you are in places right now where you're in a relationship and you're dating somebody and you're like, this is not healthy. But fear has you afraid of leaving it because what if you're alone? Fear has some of you afraid of stepping into friendship because you know what it is to be betrayed, and so it's easier to live your life with your arms closed and your heart shielded than to get stabbed in the back again. And the problem is, as believers, we have to live lives with arms open, not arms closed. Pain is part of the process. Betrayal is part of the process, rejection is part of the process. I look at this and I see Jesus knows rejection well, doesn't he? Could you imagine it's not just how Peter is feeling, but Jesus, with everything he's about to endure, locks eyes with Peter, and Peter realizes what's happened, and he turns and runs, and Jesus watches Peter run away. And he's intimate with rejection. There's not a promise that as you follow Jesus, every relationship is gonna work out perfectly. It's not all gonna work out. You're like, Joey, you came back with such encouraging words from the beach. I'll tell you about dolphins later and seashells, and it'll be great. But but there's not there's not like this promise that every relationship is gonna be flawless or come easy. And there's not like this promise that there won't be times where you have to endure. There's there's seasons in life. I listen, I've got I got a dear friend, he just called me the other day with a miracle. A year and a half ago, uh a little over a year ago, he and his wife separated, and it seemed to be irreconcilable, and they had gone to court, and he hadn't seen his kids in a while, and there's all this stuff going on, and he's just like, Joey, the more I pray, the worse it gets. He's like, I know I've got issues, I know I've got things to work on, but listen, I just I'm trying to do whatever I can. I'm I'm fasting and I'm praying, and it's not getting any better. And every single time I would call him to try to encourage him, I couldn't think of any encouraging words because the situation just looked so bleak. And I said, I don't have anything special to say other than I stand with you and I'm praying with you. I am present in your pain. And he would keep praying and he would keep praying. They were one month away from their divorce hearing, and she called and said, I called my lawyer this morning and I fired him because I believe that we're supposed to stay in this. He called me and said, This is a miracle. God just began working and it's working in their family. A year. I get weary praying after a few days. Right? You ever have a prayer request? You're two weeks in, you're like, You have forsaken me, God. All is lost. Right? Something like I'm like a year. I I look at people in the Bible and there's like these massive amounts of time, and things just don't come easy, but I want to say this. What if fear becomes a motivator for you? What if fear becomes a fuel for you that this is the right direction? Does that make sense? Can I can I just say that? What if fear, when you encounter fear, you're like, you know what? Why would I be afraid if I was going where the enemy wanted me to go? Right? I uh listen, if I'm going where God wants me to go, then there's gonna be fights in my path, and the enemy's gonna try to use fear to intimidate me. So why don't I take the intimidation as affirmation and I'll keep pushing forward? And I'm gonna let people know, I'm not gonna be so prideful that somebody's just gonna magically know how I'm feeling. Church, can we just crush pride and be vulnerable enough to say when you're going through a tough time, say it's hard right now? I don't know why it's hard or how long it's gonna be hard. But will you just join me in praying? Will you just join me in this frustration and just say, Together we're gonna worship God together? And as people say, Hey, there might be days where I might not be able to raise my hands. Would you come along as accountability and help lift up my hands? Fears a cruel master. So Peter runs away. He's weeping bitterly. Verse 63. The guards in charge of Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and said, Prophesy to us who hit you that time. And they hurled all sorts of terrible insults at him. Can I just say something? One of things we found out about Luke, this man is a man of description. He is wildly descriptive. He is, right? The good, he's the good physician, is what he's known as, right? Like he's he gives you all the details. And the fact that he doesn't detail the words that are this terrible speaks something to me. It says, and they hurled all sorts of terrible insults at him. He doesn't begin to say what those are. To me, it speaks volumes. At daybreak, the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council and they said, Tell us, are you the Messiah? But he replied, If I tell you, you won't believe me. And if I ask you a question, you won't answer. But from now on, the Son of Man, we've seen him call himself this time over and over again. We know that this is a connection to Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah. From now on, the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God's right hand. They all shouted, So are you claiming to be the Son of God? And he replied, You say that I am. Why do we need other witnesses? They said. We ourselves heard him say it. Let's stay right here. They all shouted, So are you claiming to be the Son of God? And he replied, You say that I am. I want to look at that really quickly, because when we see that, it doesn't seem like he is giving a straightforward answer. So this is us looking at an Eastern phrase through Western eyes in 2026. But what he is saying is, yes, it is as you say, rather than that's your claim, not mine. We read it as, well, this is what you're saying, it's not what I'm saying. You said it, not me. And what Jesus is actually saying is, you have rightly identified what I am claiming. He is not, so, so this is this is a key passage. This is a key thing for two reasons. One, Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He is saying, you are rightly discerning what I am proclaiming. Right? Same thing too. Uh Muslims will say that he was not the Son of God. He's Messiah, but not God. And they'll ask, where is a verse that declares that he is God? Where Jesus says it, he says it right here. This is clear. He's not so so when you just read it through in the English language, you're like, ah, this seems to be like uh kind of ambiguous, vague answer, but it's not at all when you understand the context and the culture, which we know matters when we read the scripture. Yeah. So if we take verses at random and make them say whatever we want them to say, we'll come up with terrible theology. But when we get into what is what does culture say, what was going on, and what's the context? Listen, if he's not proclaiming to be God, why is everybody freaking out? That is mind-boggling to me. This is where does he proclaim to be God? And they say, Why do we need another witness? We ourselves heard him say it. They're like, now we have proof that you're saying that you're the son of God, and we have enough reason to say this is blasphemy. If it's not blasphemy, they don't have any evidence, they don't have a foot to stand on, and now they're attacking Jesus. Right? You with me on that? Cool. This is why digging into scripture and studying matters, this is not an unclear response. They shouted, so you're claiming to be the Son of God, and he replied, You say that I am. He's like, You are rightly discerning what I am saying. Verse uh one of chapter 23. Then the entire council took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor. Why did they need to do this? If they believe that he's blasphemous, why are they now taking him to Pilate? The reason is because the Jews didn't have the legal authority to kill or punish their own people, only the Roman government did. And the Roman government didn't really care if there was a Jewish person being blasphemous in their faith. So they're having to take him to Pilate to get him in another way, right? So the entire council took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor. They began their state, uh, they began to state their case. This man has been leading our people astray by telling them not to pay their taxes. Is that true? No, that's not true. We just read it a few weeks ago. Immediately they're lying. He's been leading our people astray by telling them not to pay their taxes to the Roman government and by claiming he is the Messiah, a king. So Pilate asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus replied, You have said it. There again is another instance of that kind of terminology, right? Pilate turned to the leading priest and to the crowd and said, I find nothing, listen to this, I find nothing wrong with this man. And they became insistent, but he is causing riots by teaching wherever he goes, all over Judea, from Galilee to Jerusalem. Check this out. Oh, he is a Galilean? Pilate asked. Now Pilate has an out because he's not in charge of Galilee. Herod is, right? So he is shirking responsibility. He said, verse 7, when they said that he was, Pilate sent him to Herod Antipas because Galilee was under Herod's jurisdiction, and Herod happened to be in Jerusalem at the time. Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform miracles. He asked Jesus question after question, but Jesus refused to answer. Meanwhile, the leading priests and teachers of religious law stood there shouting their accusations. Then Herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing Jesus. Finally, they put a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. Herod and Pilate, who had been enemies before, became friends that day. Crazy thing to bond over. I want to jump back really quick to verse 8. Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle. Herod wants some razzle dazzle from Jesus. I'm so excited that this guy, I'm gonna finally get to meet him. You're bringing him to me. Great. I wonder what he'll do. I wonder, like, just make me amazed. Get me to a point of awe. Show up and blow my mind, Jesus. That's what he wanted, right? He's like wanting some kind of Siegfried and Roy, like magic show. I don't know if you guys remember Siegfried and Roy. I don't know any new magicians. I don't know if the magician thing's falling out of style or what, right? Some kind of Vegas show, like, right? Like just like shimmy and be in a different outfit or something. Like, show me something cool. Dazzle me, Jesus. And Jesus shows up and he's not saying anything. And he's not answering any of the questions. And he's not giving Herod what he wants. And so then Herod rejects Jesus because he won't perform. Peter rejects Jesus because he is afraid. Herod rejects Jesus because he won't perform. Can I tell you there are Christians that are mad at God because he won't razzle, dazzle for them? Show me something special. Blow my mind, Jesus. I've heard people say, if he will only do this, then I'll follow him. If he'll only answer this prayer, then I'll believe him. If he'll only do this, then I'll trust him. If he'll only do this, then I'll follow him. Jesus literally, God came to earth, lived a perfect life, died a brutal death on the cross for you and for me, and now we're asking for a show. What does he owe you? What does he owe me? Nothing. He owes us nothing. And so what happens in the culture of the church is we try to make bigger shows, bigger performances so the razzle dazzle can be there so that you'll show up the next week rather than just choosing to be faithful to come into the presence of God with other believers that are going through rough lives and saying, God, even in the middle of the struggle, we praise you because you're worthy. If you need everything to be perfect before you praise, if you need conditions to be just right before you praise, you're not looking for a savior, you're looking for a genie and a lamp. I'll tell you this like most people don't want to worship Jesus truly because it interrupts the praise that they desire. I gotta I gotta have people like me. I gotta have people make me feel good. I have it, I gotta have the service built around me. I gotta, I gotta find, I'm only gonna read the stories in the Bible that like I now I'm David with a sling. I'm the hero. It's Mises. No Jesus. Just like some of the most insane worship times I've had came in third world countries where electronic instruments were out of tune. I don't know how that happens. My keyboards would be out of tune. I'm like, oh. And these people are just praising God. In Nicaragua, with a place with no AC, the sound system crank as loud as it can go. And it's just like in the presence of God. Eight-year-old, seven years old is on the on the on the ground, just exalting Jesus with tears in their eyes. With nothing. And I pray, listen. God if there's areas of Herod in my heart, if there's any of that in me, if there's anything when I say you gotta dance on me. Forget my affection. Man, fear can bring you to a place where you'll reject, but also man, selfishness will bring you to a place where you'll reject. He had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle. He's excited to see Jesus, and when Jesus doesn't want what he wants, when Jesus doesn't do what he wants, he begins to make fun of him, he begins to mock him, he puts a royal robe on him, and he sends him back to Pilate. Verse 13. Then Pilate called together the leading priests and other religious leaders along with the people, and he announced his verdict. You brought this man to me, accusing him of leading a revolt. I have examined him. Check this out thoroughly on this point in your presence and find him innocent. Can I just say this really quick about Pilate? Pilate was being watched by Caesar because he was so bloodthirsty and just killing people with no reason whatsoever. And so this bloodthirsty man is now saying, I don't see any reason why we need to harm him. I don't see any reason. You're not giving me anything to show me that he needs to be killed. Right? You have brought this man to me, accusing him of leading a revolt. I have examined him thoroughly on this point in your presence and find him innocent. Herod came to the same conclusion and sent him back to us. Nothing this man has done calls for the death penalty. So I will flog him. There's no reason to flog him, he's innocent, but I'm gonna beat him to shut you up. I'm gonna tear him apart with whips so that you will shut up and be quiet and get off my back. I'm trying to pay you off with his pain. Then a mighty roar rose from the crowd. With one voice, they shouted, kill him and release Barabbas to us. I want to stomp real quick. Um, if you if you're on the previous page, you'll see, can we go to the previous screen? You'll see right there, verse 16, so I will have him flogged and then I will release him. Jump to the next screen. Now we're in verse 18. There is a verse 17 that is in some Bibles, not all Bibles, though. And the reason it's not in every scripture is because the earliest uh uh findings of this manuscript don't include verse 17. However, it is assumed by some theologians that scribes that would uh um copy and just make make new versions, not new versions, but they're copying the text over. They inserted these passages that you would find in Matthew, right? Because they're trying to, because it doesn't going from verse 16 to 18, you're missing some context unless you're a Jewish person. Right? It doesn't make it right or wrong, it just means that it's still true. And so there's no verse 17. So I don't know if anybody caught that, or maybe I just did a terrible job describing that for you. But regardless, so you can look into that. But earliest text, uh Codex Synaticus, and these things like that, they will they won't have verse 17. Then a mighty roar rose from the crowd. And with one voice they shouted, kill him and release Barabbas. What does verse 17 say in some of these versions? It says, Now it was necessary for him to release one prisoner to them during the Passover celebration. Matthew 27, 15 gives us insight. Now it was the governor's custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one per prisoner to the crowd, anyone they wanted. This year there was a notorious prisoner, a man named Barabbas. So, so we we get that one of the ways that um Rome would placate and try to just pacify the Jews is that they'd say once a year we're gonna release a prisoner, we're gonna let you choose who it is. Okay, so that's that's the context of what's going on because there's kind of a gear shift here if you're not ready for it. So they're so to kill Jesus and release Barabbas to us, we want a prisoner exchange. It says verse 19, Barabbas was in prison for taking part in an insurrection. They're trying to get Jesus on these same charges. You with me? This man's been found guilty. Jesus has no guilt in him, nothing that they can say. Yeah, he's guilty of this. Yet they now have a man that has been found as guilty. Verse 19, Barabbas was in prison for taking part in an insurrection in Jerusalem against the government and for murder. And Pilate argued with them because he wanted to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, crucify him, crucify him. Check this out in John 19. We get another another viewpoint of this, the same passage. John 19, verse 15. They shouted, Take him away, take him away, crucify him. And Pilate said, Should I crucify your king? And they said, We have no king but Caesar, the chief priest answered. They want to call out Jesus for blasphemy, but now they're saying that Caesar is our king. Okay, these people are fully bugging out. Crucify him, crucify him for the third time. He demanded, why? What crime has he committed? I found no reason to send us him. Can you see something? I what I need you to see is the purity of Jesus. That even an evil man sees the purity of Jesus, but a religious people want him killed. For the third time, what crime has he committed? I found no reason to sentence him to death, so I will have him flogged and then I'll release him. But the mob shouted louder and louder, demanding that Jesus be crucified, and their voices what prevailed. So Pilate sentenced Jesus to die as they demanded, as they had requested. He released Barabbas, the man in prison for insurrection and murder. But he turned Jesus over to do as they wished. But he turned Jesus over to them to do as they wished. I don't know if anybody else did this. Any parents? When you went to go name your child, did anybody else look up what their names meant before you named them that? Right? No, but no, some of you did, some of you didn't. You're just like, that's a beautiful name, and you're stuck with it. Um so uh Ashley, weren't you named after a soap opera character? Supposedly. They have a wood stove that had Ashley written on it. So I actually think she's named after the stove. I actually think she's named after the stove, but a grandmother loves soap operas, so that's so sometimes you end up with, and that's where your name comes from, right? And um, and not to toot my own horn, but uh my name uh I'm saying this very humbly. Which takes away the humility of it when I say it like that. Yeah. So so my mom said she she was praying one day and she felt like the Lord say, Your son's gonna be named Joseph, because that means it means to add unto. And she told me that I don't know how many times during my life. And when Ash and I were looking for our kids' names, we studied all these names and we find a cool name, and you're like, what does that mean? Um, and it meant something like weak sauce, or I don't know, like you I can't remember what they meant. Like, but we would we find some really cool names with terrible meanings, and but then the names matter because you're gonna be calling your kid that you're forever. Forever. And um, you don't want your kid being like called like weasel breath or something. You can be calling that forever. And when I read scripture, I'm like, I wonder what the name means. Because we don't see anything about Barabbas before this, and we don't see anything about Barabbas after this. His name pops up, boom, and then it's gone. We know that he's notorious, but Barabbas in Hebrew uh it breaks down into bar and abba, and it means son of the father. Son of the father. So Jesus is the righteous son of the father, right? Because John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, his only begotten son, that whoever should believe his only begotten son, so the righteous son of the father had to die so the unrighteous son of the father could be set free. Peter denied Jesus out of fear. Actually, would you come up for me? Herod rejected him because he wouldn't perform. Pilate sentenced him to death under the pressure of the people. You look at all these people and you're like, man, you got people in the crowd shouting, crucify him. Like, how could they shout that? Barabbas is about to get released. And I remember listening to an amazing sermon probably twelve years ago, fifteen years ago. And I'll never forget it because the minister said Jesus knew that he had to die. He knew that he knew that Jesus, the Father had to treat Jesus like Barabbas, so that he could treat Barabbas like Jesus. And I thought about that, and there's only one way, scripture says there's only one way to get to the Father. So Barabbas, the son of the Father, gets set free. Now we don't know anything else about him. Anything would be just conjecture, made up story. Like we don't know, but we know that his freedom comes because of the price of Jesus' life. And I I I think about this, and I think about this. I'm like, you know what, man, I couldn't get my mind off. God, gosh, I need to word this right. I always go back to the verse where it says, but for the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross despising his shame. But for the joy set before him, and who was the joy set? What was the joy set before him? It was you and it was me. So Jesus knows the Father had to treat Jesus like Joey so that he could treat Joey like Jesus. That I only get made right if Jesus gets treated like Joey. So that now when he looks at me, he sees somebody made right. Not because of what I've done, but because of who I've submitted my life to. Not because of what I've done, but because of the price that Jesus paid. Not because of anything that I have uh ascertained or maintained. It doesn't matter how long I pastor, being a pastor doesn't get my salvation. Being a servant, a disciple, one who says, Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God, that you died for me, and I receive you as my Savior, my Lord, and my King. I believe with my heart and I confess with my mouth, and by the fruit of my life I show it. I want to I want to add that part onto it as well. Because you hear me say often, and I believe it's true because scripture says it, you you're saved if you believe you confess with your mouth and believe with your heart, you'll be saved. That's what the Bible says. But you will also know a tree by its fruit. And there are Christians that walk around and they are fruitless. And so you have to ask yourself if there is no fruit, is there a relationship? If you've got a relationship with Jesus and there's an obedience in your walk, and there will be fruit in your life at some point. Now, check this out. I understand that fruit doesn't come instantly. You with me on that? You ever see a tree springtime, it blooms, and it's maybe an apple tree, and then you see a little thing like the apple doesn't instantly just blop out. It's time for the fruit to arrive. I get that. But listen, let me tell you this. If you can't remember the last season where there was fruit in your life and your relationship with Jesus, we need to step back and say, okay, am I living in surrender to him? I say this out of love because I don't want anybody that I lead to get to heaven and say, But Jesus, I went to church on Sunday, but Jesus, I gave tithes and offerings, but Jesus, I helped clean up, but Jesus, I did this, but Jesus depart from me. I never knew you. I don't want anybody that I lead to have this. Listen, fruit in our life. We'll have another Sunday where we talk about what fruit looks like. But I would say throughout the week, maybe it'd be good to do some Bible study on what is the fruit that comes from a relationship with Jesus. John 14, 6 says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. I can be a son of the Father because the Son of the Father took my place. When it says all creation shouts his praise, man, like to me that sounds like waves. To you it might sound like the leaves in the fall. Like, I don't know, like when they're coming out of the trees, like I remember just sitting there one day just watching, just like, I always love just finding the horizon and looking from one end to the other. And it always hits me. Like, you know, obviously, you know, the way I'm looking, the directions are different, but the verse always hits me. He remembers my sin no more. As far as the east is from the west. He remembers my sin no more. Like, God, that's incredible. I'm looking on the waters and I'm like, it hit me this year. I was like, God, I don't know if I ever said it, but you did a good job with that. You know what I mean? I was like, I don't know. I was like, you did a really good job. Well done. Like, I didn't I don't know if that means as much, but that's that's that's good work with the ocean. And um, and I'm studying and I'm like, man, I just could you just close your eyes for a minute? Could you get this view of like Jerusalem? Crowds pressed in, there's stairs leading up to some sort of patio platform, Jesus standing there, Barabbas is standing there, and everybody is shouting, free Barabbas, crucify Jesus. Can you just is there any way in your mind's eyes you could picture that and just begin to say, Man, like Jesus loved Barabbas too? You imagine when Pilate concedes and Jesus stays in his place, and Barabbas begins to walk down the steps into the crowd. Before that day, his life was over. Now that day he walks into freedom. We don't know what he's gonna do. He walks down into the crowd and Jesus stays put. Can you rewind it just a little bit? And instead of seeing Baraba standing there next to Jesus, could you just could you just see yourself well aware that you're worthy of the convictions of your crimes and that Jesus knows he's got to stay put so that you can walk free. And because he loves you, he stands his ground. So I want to say to you today, even as you leave this place, may you walk free with no shame. May you walk free in the love of Jesus. May you walk free in the forgiveness of your Savior. May you walk bold in the grace and the grip of his love. May you know that you were worth it to him. And may you be challenged that as you walk down those steps, that there is calling and purpose for your life. You are to bear fruit, you are to share the gospel, you are to share the hope, you are to share the good news. Would you walk in that conviction with purpose, determination, intentionality? Lord, I thank you right now. I pray for everyone in this room, anyone that's been under the weight of fear. I thank you, Lord, that your word says that you've not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. I speak that over your sons and daughters. And may they not be guided by fear. For anybody right now that's just you just feel manipulated by it, you feel controlled by it, may you fix your eyes on Jesus and declare him King and Lord of your life. For anyone in this room, and I'm including myself in this, that you've asked Jesus to razzle and dazzle you, to get your affection, to win more of your trust. Would you just open your heart right now enough to say, God, if that's me, convict me, because I you need to do no more for me than what you've already done. I love you and I praise you.