Classic Friday: S. Lewis Johnson (Barabbas) (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, "'But we did not yield in subjection to them "'for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel "'would remain with you.'"

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio. My name's Mike Abendroth.

Today, Samuel Lewis Johnson, Jr. I know some of you have begun to love the ministry of S.

Lewis Johnson as he highlights Christ Jesus. Today's part two, Barabbas, or Christ Dies for Me.

Talking about substitutionary atonement from Matthew 27, 15 through 26, in his sermon series,

Leading Figures in the Drama of Golgotha. You can go to the SLJ Institute and get these messages typed out.

You can listen to them there or go to Believer's Chapel, Dallas, and they have 1 ,500 messages from Christology to eschatology.

This might be one of my all -time favorite S. Lewis messages, Barabbas, and today is part two on No Compromise Radio.

You can write me at info at nocompromiseradio .com. Today, S. Lewis Johnson, Jr.,

talking about Jesus dying for Barabbas, the only person Jesus died for physically.

Can hardly ever keep their hands away from their throats and that those who are to die in the gas chamber practice breathing for long periods of time.

They know that when they sit in that chamber and the dreadful, deadly hissing sound comes, they're going to be breathing death.

And as I understand it, some prisoners will sit in their cells and actually hold their breath until their eyes almost pop out of their head in anticipation of the fact that it's not long before they must breathe the deadly gas.

And so you can imagine Barabbas in his cell. You can imagine him thinking about his hands and you can imagine him thinking about his feet and you can imagine him thinking about what is going to happen to him when he's on that Roman gibbet.

And I think you can imagine him as he imagines himself on that Roman cross and then the men taking that cross and plunging it down into the ground and I think that Barabbas must have had many a nightmare in his cell.

John Oxenham has written a very vivid account of Barabbas's experience.

It's purely imaginary and there are some things about it that are not apparently according to the text of scripture.

But in general, it's true. He pictures Barabbas as in his cell and one morning looking out and seeing far off in the distance on a little hill, three crosses being erected.

He watches in a kind of terrible, a kind of terrible interest and he sees the one and the second and the other and knowing that he has some friends who were also taken with him and it's been even suggested that there were three of them who were imprisoned, he reflects upon the fact that these surely are the crosses upon which he and his friends must die.

And then Oxenham pictures one morning, early in the morning, Barabbas hears the sounds of men coming toward the cells.

He hears the tramp of the feet. He hears the doors open and they come closer and closer and finally he hears a key and he hears a key great and a lock and he hears a cell open and he hears the men say, come on with us.

And the steps move off into the distance and he goes over to the window and he looks out and there is one of the crosses occupied.

And then he hears the same thing again. He hears the key and he looks out again afterwards and he sees the second occupied.

And then he hears the steps for the third time and they come closer and closer and finally he hears the key and the lock of his own cell and the door is flung open and he hears the words,

Barabbas, you're free, you're free. It's easy to see,

C .I. Schofield said many years ago that Barabbas need not have been a theologian to form a good idea of the theory of the atonement.

Barabbas was a man who went free because Jesus Christ had died. He heard the message of an evangelist which for him was his jailer.

But not only is there a likeness in Barabbas's condition and the message of freedom that came to him but Barabbas is released.

And so you know we, we are rebels and we are condemned and we are guilty and there comes a message to us.

It is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's just as simple as you are free.

You do not have to bear your judgment. You do not have to bear your condemnation. Though you are a rebel, though you are guilty,

Christ has died for you and the message has come, go free. The prison doors have been flung open.

This very metaphor is used in the New Testament and every single person who hears that message and believes that message may go free.

Barabbas had a wonderful message of release which illustrates our redemption also.

Now we don't know Barabbas's later history. It has even been supposed that Barabbas as he came out made his way out toward the cross of the

Lord Jesus and stood by the side of that cross. As a matter of fact, Mr. Oxenham has him at the last kneel down before the cross and thank

Jesus for dying for his sins. That is not even tradition. That is pure imagination and we have no way of knowing, of course, that it ever happened.

But it's just possible that Barabbas may have followed the crowd out that day and I think if his two friends were, if the other two men were friends of his,

I think that's exactly what he did and I think you could have found Barabbas right around that little hill and thinking about the wonderful turn of circumstances which had led to his freedom.

And as he reflected upon it, he looked and he saw the criminals and he thought of the bonds. He thought of the curse.

He thought of the disgrace of dying in this way. And of course, not having spiritual discernment, no doubt he didn't understand what you and I might understand, but you know, if we had stood at that cross by the side of Barabbas and looked up and seen the

Lord Jesus dying like that and if we had known what we know now, we could have looked at the bonds and at the curse and at the disgrace and said, that's what he bore for me.

Those were my curses. Those were my disgrace. That was my disgrace. And Barabbas too, even in the physical sense, could have said that.

And so he illustrates us in that way too. Barabbas's cross, you see, has been taken by Christ.

And Christ's cross was Barabbas's cross. And when Jesus uttered those words,

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Or Father, let them go, for they know not what they do.

Barabbas could have said, this man died for me. In fact,

Barabbas is the only man of whom it can be said that Jesus died for him physically.

Oh, if he'd only known the real truth of this. In fact, I think if Barabbas ever came to a faith in Jesus Christ, I don't believe there's anybody who could have sung that hymn with more gusto, he breaks the power of canceled sin.

He sets the prisoner free than Barabbas, the son of the Father. Barabbas's righteousness, of course, is the righteousness, is an illustration of the righteousness that we have in Jesus Christ.

For you see, Barabbas was righteous because someone else was bearing his punishment.

Barabbas had been free because Jesus was not free. And Barabbas now in the eyes of Rome had been released and now stood before them righteous, all because someone else had taken his place.

And so we, because the Lord Jesus Christ has borne our judgment, we stand righteous before God.

And oh, the wonderful exchange that took place at the cross of Calvary, when the

Lord Jesus took our judgment, took our unrighteousness, and because of what he has done has now by faith conferred upon us and believe in him a righteousness that avails before God.

He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Barabbas was righteous because Christ died for him. And one last thing before we move on to the practical implications of this.

Barabbas' lone responsibility, you know, was to believe the message. When the men came to say to Barabbas, Barabbas, you're free.

I don't think Barabbas replied like this, do you? Why, that's absurd. I've been condemned by Rome.

I'm going to have to die. It's ridiculous to tell me that I'm free. And yet, you know, that's the way a lot of people respond to the message of the gospel.

The message of the gospel comes and tells us that we are criminals, that we are rebels before God, and that we are undone.

And then it says that Christ has died for our sins. And somehow or another, in our modern 20th century, man replies, this is absurd.

Why, it's ridiculous to think that a man dying upon a cross 1 ,900 years ago can have anything to do whatsoever with my sins.

And so we debate and stay in the prison. I don't think Barabbas said when that man came in and said,

Barabbas, you're free, I don't need it. Because if any man recognized his need, Barabbas recognized his need.

Unfortunately, today we do not recognize our need. You know, I think if I had one thing to do,

I almost, rather than preaching the gospel, would like to have the privilege of getting over one message to men.

It's the preparation for the gospel. I think this is so important that I almost would rather let someone else preach the gospel.

If I could be sure to get over one preparatory point, and that is, if I could somehow or other point out to men that they are condemned, that they need a

Savior, that they are sinners, that they really have a desperate need, and in fact, that they are so needy that I would be fearful to take a step or breathe a breath without accepting

Jesus Christ as my Savior. Or if I could have a one, if I could have this ministry, I think it would be the most wonderful ministry in the world.

Because today, the 20th century man does not know that he stands condemned before God.

He has been the object of so much propaganda that now when man is pointed up to the fact that he is a sinner, he has a thousand ways to get away from this plain fact that he has displeased

God. Barabbas didn't say, I don't need it. He knew that was the very thing that he did need.

He didn't say either, I must prove that I'm reformed, or I must get a little better before I'm worthy of this release from Rome.

He knew that immediately he had to get out. He could never be useful to Rome if he had any such ideas, which

I doubt that he did have. But if he ever had any such ideas as that, he needed to be free first. And you know,

I've spoken to people about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they have acknowledged that they needed something.

But then they have gone on to make this very, very sad statement, I'm going to wait a while until I get to the place where really

I'm worthy to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. The Bible says that we're never worthy.

God says that we're always under condemnation. What we need is some freedom in order then to place

God out of the salvation that he gives us. We can never be useful to God until we've been brought to life, and that comes only through the new birth.

Now may I, as we close this morning, suggest a few practical implications from this story.

Sometimes it's good to be practical, and I know this is one of my faults. I'm not inclined to be as practical as I ought to be.

But I would like to be practical this morning and draw just two or three lessons from the Barabbas story.

By the way, a week ago I was in Tennessee preaching at Brown College, and while I was there, someone told me a very humorous story, and it illustrates the need of being practical.

A college was having a play. The director was the professor of drama on the campus.

And the play led up to a climactic scene in which the hero knelt upon his knees before the heroine and proposed.

But unfortunately the hero was a kind of phlegmatic character whose emotion was practically nil.

And he was not able really to enter into the spirit of the thing. The climactic statement of this proposal was to be made when the rejected suitor raised a wonder in the place where he was proposing to his girl, took a rifle out, and shot the young man as he was on his knees.

And the young man was to say, and these were his lines, Good heavens, I'm shot!

But he just couldn't say it. Right at the tense moment when the gun rang, he would say,

Good heavens, I'm shot! And the director was about to tear his hair out.

He knew that this was going to be a complete flop when this man uttered these words. And just,

I think, the day before the play was to be shown, he happened to be walking through his young son's room and he noticed his air rifle.

And he got a wicked idea. And so on the night of the play, as the rejected suitor threw up the wonder and fired his blank, the director from another place fired the air rifle.

The young man jumped six feet in the air and said, Good heavens, I am shot! May I bring you back to earth for just a moment here?

You see, these stories of Barabbas and Pilate and Herod are very, very practical.

And it is tremendously important that we get the point of them. And the first thing that I want you to notice about this story is the madness of the multitude's choice.

This is often true of crowds. Not this man, but my rebellion, my pride, my pleasure, my sin.

We do not want Jesus, the Son of the Father, but Jesus, Son of the

Father. We'll take Barabbas. We don't want Christ. Oh, the madness of the multitude's choice.

And unfortunately, this has been the history of mankind. We have chosen wrong. And always, the crowd seems to choose wrong.

They do not choose that which is right. I think one of the master touches of the story of Jesus and Barabbas is

George Tenworth's terracotta. He has a terracotta of this story in which

Barabbas is released, and you kind of get the picture of Barabbas. He's gone out the door, and there are some of his old cronies.

They are congratulating him, and the crowd is saying, Hail Barabbas, and everybody is happy.

And then on the other side is Jesus coming out of the door in the arms of grim

Roman soldiers. And standing by, there is a woman with a child in her arms, and she looks off with sympathetic and loving eyes to our

Lord Jesus. And that's the master touch, you see. It often is the one here and there who realizes who is the real

Son of the Father. The crowd didn't understand. The nation didn't understand.

But here and there, there is one person who understands that Jesus is really the

Son of the Father. My friend, if you are going to follow the multitudes, you almost always will be wrong.

They are mad. They are mad. They are crazy. They are dominated by emotions that are not truly spiritual.

Secondly, this choice is typical of all the great choices of life. Jesus, who is called the

Christ, or Jesus, Barabbas. Pilate's inquiry, what then shall

I do with Jesus, who is called the Christ, is still apropos. I sometimes sit in audiences and listen to men who are not really sure what to do with Jesus when they are preaching.

They present a kind of Jesus that it's really questionable whether we ought to pray to Him or not.

They present a Jesus and you wonder if He's really man only or if He's man and God.

Or they present a Jesus who is a kind of example and not a redeemer. And I kind of get the feeling that Pilate's question is still being asked from the pulpit today.

What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called the Christ? It's the simplest answer in the world for anyone to answer.

What does a blind man do when a friend comes up and offers an arm for guidance?

He takes the arm. What does a man who's desperately sick do when the doctor prescribes and brings him medicine?

He takes the medicine. What does a drowning man do when somebody throws him a rope?

He takes the rope. What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called the Christ? Receive Him as your

Savior. Your condition is desperate. You're drowning.

You're sick at the point of death. You're blind and you cannot see. All of life's choices ultimately come.

Jesus, the rabbis, Jesus, the Christ. And thirdly and finally, that decision is to be made now.

Not enough to be near Christ. Barabbas may have had a cell right by Jesus's.

He knew about Him. Oh, the pathos of what Barabbas missed.

The answer to his political quest was right before his eyes. Men today are very desperately interested in politics.

They want the answer to problems, national problems.

There is something more important than that, and ultimately all national problems are solved in the relationship to Jesus of Nazareth.

Here was a man, a ra 'ata, an insurrectionist, a nationalist, looking for the glory of Israel, and the glory of Israel was right by his side in Jesus of Nazareth.

But he missed Him. And so there stand the two men. They stand before you today,

Barabbas and Christ. Jesus Barabbas, He'll never cleanse you.

He'll never remake you. He'll never take over your life and give you the guidance and peace and joy that the other,

Jesus, the Son of the Father, will. One is the choice of the crowd, however.

The other is the choice of public opinion. The other is the choice of society. But this is the choice of divine wisdom,

Jesus, the Son of God. I once heard that an old man made the statement, the sense of an irretrievable error in life, fastening upon the mind, is a foretaste of hell.

Have you ever made the decision for which you're sorry, which cannot ever be rectified?

I think I know what he means. I've made such decisions. I've made some decisions

I would like to reverse. And as I think about it, it is a kind of hell, isn't it?

Oh, how terrible it would be to make that decision to reject Jesus Christ. Hell is terrible, and no doubt far more than that.

But that would be hell. Charles Lamb was a great man.

He and some friends of his were gathered together one night. They were discussing what they would do if they had an opportunity to talk with certain historical characters.

One of them said, What would you do if Chaucer were here?

One of the others said, What would you do if Sir Thomas Brown was here? And finally, the name above every name came up in conversation.

Charles Lamb spoke up. He said, You know, men, if Shakespeare came into this room, we'd all stand up.

But if Jesus came into this room, we would all kneel. That's it.

If Shakespeare came in, we would stand up. But if Jesus came in, we'd kneel down before him and worship him.

Or would we? Would you?

Would you? Would you really? Down in your heart?

Why don't you, as we close in prayer this morning, put your trust in Christ.

Might be a good idea for Christians, too, to make that decision again in the presence of God, Christ, Jesus, the

Son of the Father, rather than Jesus forever. May we stand for the benediction.

Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the true

Son of the Father, who has loved us and given himself for us, with a love that is everlasting and that cannot be broken.

The presence of the Holy Spirit, the assurance of acceptance before God, the love of God the

Father, who gave the Son and who gives the Spirit, be in abide with all who know him in sincerity.

Who've said, I want Jesus, who is called the Christ. May, oh

God, if there should be anyone in this audience who has not yet believed in Christ, oh, at this moment, may they be choosing

Jesus, who is the Christ. Now as we part, may all of thy blessings go with us and use us throughout this week for thy glory, for Jesus' sake.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible -teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

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