The Greatest Exchange - Luke 23 Vs 13-24

We have Bible study this Wednesday. I think the next one is on the 20th That Bible study will be at 5 30 p .m.

And that's back in the fellowship hall And or you could turn in tune in on YouTube. Sorry about that Our missionaries of the month are

John and Becky Knox who were here They serve with BMW in Japan.

So just pray for them. We have our ladies Christmas brunch So mark your calendars that's going to be

Saturday December 7th at 10 a .m I'm sure you guys noticed on the way in we have the church is being painted

So I think their ETA for that is the 20th. So So we all look forward to seeing how that's gonna look.

So we'll just open in prayer Dear Lord, we thank you for today. Thank you for gathering us all here this morning

Lord Keep getting us here safely. We just pray Lord for today's message that We would all be blessed by Lord and that we could all

Take from it and and walk in obedience throughout the week Lord. We praise you. We love you in Jesus name.

Amen well, please stand together our first song is how deep the father's love and I was looking at Psalm 136 and it's

It kind of repeats that theme over and over again for his mercy his love endures forever

And that's dozen plus times of Oh give thanks to the God of heaven for his mercy

Endures forever his love endures forever and what a loving God that we do have that we can serve him

We can love him we can worship him and that's what we do corporately today And they had been released they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them and Then they heard this they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said

Oh Lord, it is you who made the heavens and in the earth and the sea and all that is in them

Who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David your servant said?

Why did the Gentiles rage and the people's devised futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together

Against the Lord and against his Christ For truly in the city there were gathered together against your holy servant

Jesus Whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the

Gentiles and the peoples of Israel To do whatever your hand and your purpose

Predestined to occur and now Lord take note of their threats and grant that your bond servants

May speak your word with all confidence while you extend your hand to heal and signs and wonders

Take place through the name of your holy servant Jesus. Well, let's stand together again we're gonna sing what wondrous love is this and it's a

It's a picture of a believer Sitting back and kind of meditating on how could

God do what he did for me? And we'll never be able to answer that on this side of heaven, but we can certainly appreciate

What a gift what a blessing it is that we can to understand that love that he has for us

Great to hear all of you singing.

I think it's important to Know that people who are up here whether Harold singing or Katie and Lauren playing their instruments

It's to facilitate the whole church in Worshipping the

Lord right first you're singing to the Lord and second You're even singing to each other because the words that we sing are very deep and rich in theology in Shaping what

Jesus had done and who he is So all feel free to sing however loudly you

Want right? It is a blessing to hear real people singing and with Without any recordings, right with that let's all turn to Luke chapter 23

Luke chapter 23 verses 13 through 25 Luke chapter 23 verses 13 through 25

Then Pilate when he had called together the chief priests the rulers and the people said to them you have brought this man to me as one who misleads the people and Indeed having examined him in your presence.

I have found no guilt in this man Concerning those things of which you accuse him

No, neither did Herod for I sent you back to him and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by him.

I Will therefore chastise him and release him where it was necessary for him to release one of them at the feast and They all cried out at one saying away with this man and release to us for Abbas Who had been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in the city and for murder?

Pilate therefore wishing to release Jesus again called out to them, but they shouted saying crucify him crucify him

Then he said to them the third time why what evil has he done I have found no reason for death in him

I will therefore chastise him and let him go but they were insistent Demanding with loud voices that he be crucified and the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed so Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested and He released to them the one they requested who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison

But he delivered Jesus to their will this is the word of the Lord Let us pray father we are grateful that you have sent your son to die on the cross for our sin and that his death was not as a punishment for his guilt

But his death was a substitution in our place and in also another since Barabbas's place

Thank you that we have The full pardon and forgiveness of sin in Jesus Christ who died for our sin

Facing the wrath that we deserve Thank you that we couldn't have done it ourselves and thank you that it's a free gift

In Jesus name this text follows a series of injustice

Done by the religious leaders and also the political leaders and In this particular passage

Luke portrays Jesus as clearly innocent In fact this short passage alone has

Pilate the human judge Declaring Jesus to be innocent three different times

In fact Pilate desires to free Jesus, but he is pressured by the crowd and the religious leaders

To release the wrong guy Barabbas who is an actual insurrectionist unless we think this is

Just a rare occasion. I do want us to note how the

Bible actually portrays the world Oftentimes people think

That only if God were to come down everything will be made right and people will just obey

Right. I know we just had the election. I know some people naively think only if Jesus were running as for president

This text clearly shows Jesus would not have been elected But rather he would have been executed

The world is not a fan of Christ in fact

John 3 16 Probably one of the most famous verses in the

Bible right for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son Oftentimes we focus on how big the world is

God's love must be so big because there's so many people to love Yes, that's true but if you consider

How John depicts the world? The world's actually a really dark place

The world actually rejected him The world rebelled against him and in that sense we get to see a greater depth of God's love

It's that he loves despite their rejection In this passage

Has one of the most ironic Exchanges with the crowd and pilot in verse 17

It's said that there's a cultural practice of letting of criminal go free during the festival now some translations don't have verse 17 and This is because many of the early manuscripts of the

Bible the New Testament They do not have verse 17 However, the fact that pilot wanted to release a known insurrectionist a known rebel

In place of Christ and that being a tradition is actually well recorded in both

Matthew and Mark So nothing really is lost whether Luke originally had verse 17 or not

Moreover Whether it is there or not. It does not change the fact that Jesus the innocent one

Was Executed in place of the guilty criminal

This is this exchange of Barabbas and Jesus is the physical representation of what happened spiritually

Although pilots corrupt court committed injustice in crucifying the innocent Christ And releasing a criminal the heavenly court accomplished the ultimate substitutionary atonement on behalf of his people the unblemished

Lamb of God took the place of the guilty and it is not just one guilty person

The innocent Messiah suffered on behalf of his sinful people

Despite despite their rejection and This crucial doctrine is called the substitutionary atonement.

And in fact, it is the core of the gospel It is this idea.

It is this belief view that Jesus took on our place of guilt and sin although innocent and Faced the punishment that we deserved so that we may be found

Righteous not in our own righteousness, but in his righteousness alone That is the core of the gospel.

And if that is lost We lose salvation We miss substitutionary atonement that we don't have the gospel

And we see a physical Illustration of what really went on when the innocent one was put to death while the guilty was released

The main point of today's text is that Jesus despite his innocence suffers on behalf of the wicked

So that the guilty may be released Jesus despite his innocence suffers on behalf of the wicked so that the guilty may be released

First verses 13 through 16 despite Jesus's indisputable innocence the corrupt authorities unjustly kept him

Despite Jesus's indisputable innocence that corrupt authorities unjustly kept him

After Pilate receives Jesus back from Herod, right? It was a back -and -forth interaction

He is ready to make the official ruling Then Pilate when he had called together the chief priests the rulers and the people

Here, we actually have a bigger crowd than just the political and religious leaders. In fact, we have the people

The crowd of people have joined in for once Jesus will not get the popular support from the common folks

They have been Compromised The very group that the religious leaders feared would intervene in saving

Jesus life Have joined their side to oppose

Jesus together and Pilate clearly declares

Jesus is innocent in verse 14 you have brought this man to me as one who misleads the people and Indeed having examined him in your presence

I have found no fault in this man concerning those things of which you accuse him the charge was that Jesus misled the people of Israel and Pilate's investigation

Obviously found it false Jesus is innocent. The irony is of course that the people have been misled

But by the very people who are opposing Christ The one who the ones who are guilty are the ones who are going to be screaming

Crucify him the crowd before Pilate have been stirred up by the religious leaders to oppose their true

King In fact, there is more than just one insurrectionist here the whole group is an insurrection and That includes

Pilate They have rejected the true king of the universe and Pilate's ruling is corroborated by another official

No, neither did Herod for I sent you back to him and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by him

This is the second declaration of Jesus's innocence and this is crucial

It is not just Pilate who's just who happened to be prejudiced against the Jews, right?

After all Pilate does not have a great record with the Judeans right he

One would actually correctly claim his record shows his anti -semitic however, not here in fact one of the officials which is

Herod Herod is half Jewish find found no fault in Jesus himself and The fact that we have the second witness is pretty crucial because that's what

God's law required in Deuteronomy 1915 The law says two or more witnesses were required to be for a charge to be established the law

Represents God's justice And what that means is under God's standard

Jesus is guiltless right a single witness shall not suffice against the person for any crime or For any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed

Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established

During Jesus's trial his innocence Was according to God's standard of righteousness

The only standard of righteousness God's law Was to protect the innocent against the corruptible judges who would take just one evidence and for Jesus trial there were two investigators two officials who found no charge against him and Whether according to God's law or even

Roman law Jesus was innocent he did not deserve to die and Despite his innocence

Pilate desires to please the crowd. I will therefore chastise him and release him chastisement here would have been some public whipping right taking a whip and hitting

Jesus so that his flesh is torn very painful and humiliating but It's a compromise

Okay, you don't want Jesus Free but I can still punish him for you

The irony of course is Pilate just declared Jesus to be innocent not only once but twice

Verses 14 and 15 yet. He is willing to whip Jesus before letting him go

After all innocent men are not to be punished Unless we think

Pilate is pure in all of this we see his true intentions Pilate is not motivated by justice

But the positive opinion in a man He cares more about what the mob thinks of him rather than what

God thinks of him In the end justice is not to be found in Pilate's court we live in a society where justice is oftentimes twisted oftentimes criminals are rewarded and the

Survivors are punished And we have that going now in New York a veteran who saved a lot of people in the subway, and he's being charged for homicide or whatever he's being charged with whether manslaughter or homicide, but He saved the people on the subway

Lest we get confused where justice comes from justice is not from human community evolving

Justice is not In fact inherent in normal humans

Justice is having the right relationship with God and others

That's justice it's being right with God and being right with others

And this morning justice was not done in this passage

This morning justice was not found in Pilate's court Pilate chose popularity over justice

Pilate chose positive opinion of man rather than God's standard of righteousness Pilate loved political efficiency more so than Righteousness of God and this is important because Jesus suffered injustice for our sake

When Jesus suffered on the cross when he died for our sin It wasn't for his sin.

He was the only innocent one in the room When Jesus suffered for our sake it was so that God's justice may be fulfilled in him

There is nothing righteous about Pilate's court It makes no sense that Pilate did not immediately let

Jesus go upon his declaration of innocence Yet he wants to beat him up before letting him go

But as it was read to us this morning by Hezekiah in Acts 4 It was although the wicked man rose against God and his

Messiah Christ God had another plan But according to God's sovereign plan

This was precisely the injustice that Jesus must suffer that the divine justice and mercy meet

In Christ alone you find both mercy and justice Do not let anyone tell you

That mercy and justice are incompatible other religious attempt to Give you one or the other either you get justice where you're heavily burdened by the weight of your sin, and there's no way out and You have to fall under the standards of legalism where you have to follow things that God is silent on or You follow this cheap grace that for some reason

God turns away from all your false and horrible records and Just by fiat say it doesn't exist

It cheapens God's grace and this is an important question.

We have to add answer Have you ever wondered how the Holy God? Could remain righteous and holy yet still pardoned the guilty

How can my sin be forgiven when I don't have to pay for it

After all Would it not be unjust if the judge says you're innocent even if there are records of guilt and sin against you

Other religions will say your good works will cover the bad works and make sure you solve the algebraic equation

So that the good works outweigh the bad yet That equation would not even work in our human court system after all burglars can't serve

Food to the homeless to avoid prison terms Murderers can't even can't earn volunteer hours to avoid serving their sentences

Their records still stand against them. In fact any human judge who allows that would be disbarred or Voted out and the question is how could

God justly justify sinners and still remain just? It sounds like a tongue twister

But God's justice is at stake if God justifies sinners and the sin still remains in the sin on the sinner

Then he's no longer just I think

One the first verse of Solos's song about Romans 3 makes it clear

Jesus came to die God in the form of Christ as a sacrifice to appease

God's wrath and make us right So the judge can freely justify and be just Ultimately the judge himself served the sentence that we deserved

He faced the punishment the penalty that we have earned He faced the full wrath of God that was reserved for us

So that there is none for you to face In order that he may pardon us from our sin and still maintain his holiness and justice

Any God or gods that claim to forgive sin, but have not

Taken care of the sin Have not paid for the sin Have not suffered for the sin himself or themselves are practicing injustice only at the cross

Justice and mercy are fulfilled Our Righteousness our right standing before God does not in fact depend on our own righteous deeds

But what Christ accomplished for us on the cross for our sake Jesus forgiveness is

Only available because he paid for our sin on the cross. In fact

Put it another way. It would be unjust For God to hold back wrath against a sinner who has been forgiven by Christ God's faithfulness and righteousness are at stake here

If you are not forgiven yet believe in Jesus Christ death and resurrection

Now what happens when

Jesus is declared innocent? Despite Jesus innocence the people choose to release the guilty criminal instead of the innocent

Christ Despite Jesus's innocence the people choose to release the guilty criminal instead of the innocent

Christ When it seemed like Pilate was about to release

Jesus the crowd steps in they intervene And they all cried out at one saying away with this man and release to us

Barabbas Different from what the religious leaders feared only a couple chapters ago

The crowd actually wants Jesus dead just like them Barabbas is a

Semitic name and so for some of you who know or who have some

Hebrew Like friends or culture you can actually take it apart bar son

Right Simon bar Jonah Simon son of Jonah bar mitzvah son of the commandment

Right son. So bar means son. What would Abbas mean? Well Abba father?

Translation Barabbas means son of the father the irony is

That they want to kill the true son of the father God to release the actual insurrectionist

Who is not? the son of the father or One would say the son of the devil one who committed murder

Just says the devil Kept killing from the beginning verse 19 actually tells us what kind of man

Barabbas was Who had been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in the city and for murder

Ironically Barabbas was convicted of starting a resurrection The exact charge that they could not establish against Jesus in any court

Except against Barabbas the evidence was clear. Someone did die He was a violent resurrectionist who took away another person's life and that was clearly established

Pilate astonished by their choice asked again in verse 20 if the crowd resolutely made up its mind

But they shouted saying crucify him crucify him the fact that they're chanting it twice is

Emphatic There's a measurable pressure from the crowd against the governor's guilty.

I mean guiltless verdict against the verdict of innocence and Pilate makes his last plea to save Jesus Then he said to them the third time why what evil has he done?

I have found no reason for death in him. I will therefore chastise him and let him go

Again, he compromises Jesus will be whipped and the true rebel rebel Barabbas will be dealt with but let's not put an innocent man to death

And verse 23 will show that Pilate was in fact spineless But they were insistent demanding with loud voices that he be crucified and the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed and in the next following two verses 24 and 25

Pilate actually goes with their demands as he frees the terrorists and crucifies

Christ Pilate was a politician rather than a just Judge his political career was more important than administering justice

His desire to avoid a riot during the festival Outweighed his desire for his the innocent man to be released

Now, let's talk about what crucifixion is. What is crucifixion? Crucifixion was the most humiliating form of execution during a

Roman Empire They did not come up with it Human cruelty can go way back

It's a Persian form of it execution by the time you get to Greece and Rome Common folks weren't executed this way mainly slaves and in Rome Roman citizens weren't executed this way only foreigners.

So all the martyrs of Roman citizens of Rome like Paul the

Apostle Paul. He was not crucified. He was beheaded Because it was too shameful for a

Roman citizen to hang on the cross like that the criminal would carry the bar all the way up to the cross where the about a seven feet tall

Wood had been established on a mound and he would be lifted up either he might have been pierced in Jesus case he was or tied

And he would be in such an unnatural posture where every breath he takes would be

Exhaustive The lungs were not in the right position to fill up with air every breath so he would have to go up stand on his feet every time in order to grasp some air but obviously when you're crucified pierced and you've been doing that for hours it gets

Exhausting and Over time as the crowd is watching for hours The one who is crucified would die of suffocation

Unable to go up and hoist himself up in order to grasp the last gasp the last breath of air or He would have died of blood loss

Either way, it was a slow painful and Humiliating way to die and that was precisely the point

The public execution was to send a message to all never to go against Rome or you will face that fate and That is what?

The crowd was chanting for Against an innocent man who hasn't done a thing wrong and they decided

They wanted the guilty man free rather than letting the innocent man go despite Jesus is clear innocence and Barabbas is clear guilt the crowd chose to crucify

Jesus and let Barabbas free in This passage the only person who is blameless is

Jesus alone Barabbas is an actual insurrectionist who committed murder The Jewish leaders stirred up the crowd to kill the innocent man they conspired against the

Lord The powerful Roman politician who had the authority to free this innocent man instead bends justice to appease the crowd rather than God and the only innocent person in this room is

Jesus alone and In the literal sense Jesus died so that Barabbas lives

Jesus died so that the wicked terrorist was freed Jesus died so that a sinner lived and This is the spiritual picture of what was accomplished through Jesus the death on the cross

Although Barabbas was temporarily freed in this exchange Christians are eternally eternally freed because Jesus took our place on the cross

Barabbas was literally freed from death that specific day Christians are spiritually freed from death for all eternity.

I Have no idea what happened to Barabbas afterward But you can have assurance

What will happen to you? Because Jesus took your place and this is because if you believe in Jesus Christ, your sin was placed on him

Jesus died despite his innocence so that you a sinner could be freed and Just like the physical realm.

There was also a judicial exchange in the spiritual realm God poured out his judgment on his innocent son so that you the guilty may be spared

Remember when Jesus died when he took his last breath is it wasn't because he could no longer take his last breath

Because he died after shouting If you're not

Out of it unless you are full of breath you can't be shouting yet.

This is finished. This was his cry He didn't die of suffocation He died after Facing God's wrath out poured his own judgment on his innocent son so that you the guilty may be spared

And the question we have to ask is what are you freed from? You're freed from God's judgment against your sin.

All of us are born into sin. We commit sin against God We choose to rebel against God.

We consistently attempt to usurp God's throne We constantly reject

God's rule Not only that Even after we sin our instinct our nature is to justify ourselves

I don't believe in white lies, but people often say that was a white lie

Not a big deal Or that wasn't gossip. I just needed it to get it off my chest or even more sinister

That's that was a concerned prayer request I'm concerned for her. I'm concerned for him or you you you deserved to be yelled at Or you deserve the cold silent treatment

Instead of falling before the judge's throne for his mercy We enthrone ourselves to decide the verdict for ourselves, right?

That wasn't adultery It was just an inappropriate relationship That's self -justification in this sense.

We're no better than Barabbas the insurrectionist After all we too have committed treason not against Rome, but the highest authority

When we decide to justify ourselves We take the throne of God When we make excuses for our sin

We dethrone God and enthrone ourselves We have committed treason against God But if you trust that Jesus took your guilt

He took your guilty place and he faced God's wrath for you

Then you must believe there's no more leftover wrath for you After all, how could

God try you twice? That would be double jeopardy You cannot be tried for the sins that been paid for God graciously took your place so that you may be pardoned from not just some of your sin, but all of your sin

If that is true in your life, you do not need to justify yourself ever Who are you trying to hide from to cover up your sin?

Whose justification are you longing for if you're justified because of Christ's suffering? Whom do you need to impress when when also for that sin

Christ suffered? Christ's substitutionary atonement not only frees us from the wrath to come but also the deceitful desire to justify ourselves

When you are made righteous when you're declared righteous in Christ God looks to Christ's perfect record your sinful record has been nailed on the cross and been paid for God does not resurrect the past record that's been paid for The only thing

God has resurrected is Christ and that is the foretaste of your resurrection in righteousness

Christ's substitutionary atonement Transfers the focus from our wickedness wicked past our past records our evil desires to his abounding grace

That is what happened when Christ suffered on behalf of the guilty and I don't mean just Barabbas When you truly believe in Christ substitutionary atonement

You are quite mesmerized by his abounding grace That even the thought of just making myself righteous with my own excuses seem preposterous

And I think Charles Wesley wrote such a great hymn Rather not

Charles Wesley the hymn grace greater than our sin Depicts this really well marvelous grace of our loving

Lord Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt yonder and Calvary's mount outpoured

There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt grace grace

God's grace Grace that will pardon and cleanse within grace grace

God's grace Grace that is greater than all our sin and we can sing that and mean it

Because we believe in the greatest exchange of all the innocent died

So that the guilty may live Let us pray

Father we are grateful that Jesus died for us

So that we may live so that our records may be expunged So that our guilt may be cleansed so that the judgment that were overdue against us

Would be poured on him And father thank you for this grace that we cannot earn

But was earned for us and freely given as such a high cost and help us

To trust that believe that be transformed by that Help us to never to justify ourselves help us to Also, not to take sin so lightly

But to completely Lean on the cross of Jesus by which the wrath of God was satisfied