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Nobody likes to be judged. Not one of us in this room likes to be judged, especially to be pre-judged.

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That is to be judged before somebody gets to know you. It's called prejudice, to pre-judge someone.

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And has there anybody in this room ever been

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the guilty of

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pre-judging someone, or have you ever been

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in yourself pre-judged, prejudiced against you?

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I know it's definitely happened in my life. People judged me before getting to know me.

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And it's a really terrible situation to be in.

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How many of you have that's ever happened to you before like it's happened to me?

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Raise your hand. You've ever been, yeah, yeah, that's right.

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You say, well, when did it happen to you, Josh? I mean, at what point in your life were you, you know, judged prematurely?

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Well, many times, but I'll give you one example.

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For example, whenever I was first the pastor of this church, I was only 24 years old.

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Can you imagine going to a church where the pastor is only 24 years old?

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Who would go to a church like that, right?

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By the way, I'm curious, how many of you were here when Heather and I first started the church 24 years ago?

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20 years ago, I should say. 20 years ago. Would you raise your hand? How many of you were here?

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Okay, that's right. You were Ron and Sheila Solis.

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And you came to the church with a pastor who was 24 years old. What were you thinking?

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We have no idea. What's that?

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Yeah. Oh, you're home. Oh, you came home. Oh, they said they felt like they came home.

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Oh.

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Come on, people, let's wake up. Let's go. I know it's Veterans Day.

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And all your friends got to travel this weekend, but you had to stay home, right? All right.

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They said they felt like they came home.

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Oh.

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That's really nice. That's really nice.

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I do wonder sometimes who would come to a church. I do remember when we first started the church,

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it was in a small building. Just a few, you know, 40 or 50 people would show up on a Sunday.

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And we sat up front. I used to sit not in the front row.

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I used to sit on the platform during the music time.

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And instead of a worship team and a band, there was one guy. His name was Robert Miller,

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and he would get up and he would lead a song or two, and then he would sit down and then I would get up and preach.

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And as we did, I would used to sit on the platform just right here, watching as people would come in.

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And I was always hoping that somebody would show up, still kind of hope people show up.

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And as people would show up for the first time, it happened every single time, every time,

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when people first came to our church, they would walk and always could tell the new people,

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they would walk in, they would sit down, and they would look around, get their bearings.

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Then the next thing they would do is they would notice the man leading the worship.

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Then they would look up and they would look at me, the 24-year-old pastor.

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And I would watch as their eyes kind of grew like this.

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And if they were ever with somebody, they would lean over to their spouse friend or boyfriend,

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and they would lean over and they would whisper.

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I knew exactly what they were whispering.

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They were whispering, there's no way that's the real pastor.

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And I would look at them and I'd just kind of smile and nod.

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And I know what they're thinking, there's no way this guy's going to be any good.

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And then I would get up there and I would preach the best sermon they'd ever heard.

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Thank you, thank you. One person over here, yeah, very good, we'll take it.

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I remember what it was like feeling like you had to prove something,

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because you were judged prematurely.

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And nobody likes to be judged.

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And nobody wants to be in a position where they have to prove anything.

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In this story from the story of Jesus, you're going to see this is the moment that Jesus is judged prematurely.

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This is the moment that God himself, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is put on trial.

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God on trial. Now you think about that.

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What kind of a person would put God on trial?

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What kind of a person would judge God?

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And we're going to see three types of people today.

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There's three words that will tell you the entire sermon.

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It's all found in Luke chapter number 23.

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If you're interested in those three words, give me an amen.

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Here they are. Number one, confused.

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Number two, disappointed.

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And then number three, willful. Willful, willful.

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Confused, disappointed, willful. Say it with me.

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Confused, disappointed, willful.

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Here are the types of people who end up judging God.

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Those who are confused, those who are disappointed, and those who are willful against God.

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And all through these groups are found right here in the passage.

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We pick up with the confused.

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The first kind of person who is willing to question God, who is willing to judge God,

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who is willing to put God on trial.

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Number one, the confused. You say, what do we see here as the confused?

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Well, we're introduced to a man named Pontius Pilate.

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And Pilate had a difficult time trusting Jesus because Pilate had been introduced to too many truths.

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Look at the story, verses one through seven.

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It says, then the whole multitude of them arose and led him to Pilate.

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That is the religious Sanhedrin had risen up after condemning Jesus,

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and they brought him before Pilate. Now, who is Pilate and why is Jesus being brought before him?

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Pilate was the Roman prefect, the governor of the region.

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Remember, the Jewish people were under occupation of the Roman government.

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And the Roman government placed somebody over them that was kind of a Roman representative.

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His name was Pilate. Now, why? Why?

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Because although the religious leadership of the Jewish community had condemned Jesus,

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they didn't have the power to execute him, and they wanted him dead.

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So the only way they could get Jesus dead was to turn Jesus over to the Romans,

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and then the Romans would find him guilty, and they could put Jesus to death.

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And so they bring him to Pontius Pilate to execute him.

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And it says in verse two, and they began to accuse Jesus saying,

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Now, the sound that this fellow is perverting the nation.

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Accusation number one, he's destroying our country.

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Number two, accusation number two, he's forbidding for people to pay taxes to Caesar.

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Accusation number three, he calls himself the Christ, which is a king.

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Here's what they say in front of the Roman official.

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He's messing up the nation. He's telling people not to pay taxes.

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And number three, he says he's the king. Now, all of those are going to be problematic for a Roman ruler.

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The Roman ruler is to preserve the freedom of the Romans, not of the people.

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He's there to represent the great emperor of Rome, Caesar Augustus.

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It was his responsibility to represent at this point Caesar Tiberius.

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It was his point at this point to make sure that no kind of a problem would rise up.

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And Jesus may have been this problem, so now Pilate is thinking, how am I going to protect Rome?

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Now, let me ask you a question.

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Did Jesus claim to be the Christ, the Messiah? Yes or no? Yes, yes.

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Did Jesus tell people not to pay taxes, yes or no? No.

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In fact, quite the opposite.

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It was only about six months before where people brought Jesus some coins and said,

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should people pay taxes to Caesar or not? And Jesus said, give me a coin, let me see the picture on it.

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He said it's Caesar's. Give to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar, give to God that which belongs to God.

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So their accusations, some of them are true, some of them are lies.

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And they are in court bearing false witness against Jesus Christ, the carpenter of Nazareth, the rabbi from Galilee,

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the son of man and the son of God.

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The story continues.

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Verse three, then Pilate asked him a question saying, are you the king of the Jews?

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It's a very simple question.

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Pilate gets right down to it. Hey, look at me, look at me.

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I don't know who you are, I don't care who you are.

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Are you trying to start a rebellion against Rome? Do you think you're a king?

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Now the Gospel of John tells us more of the story.

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John's Gospel, Jesus looks at Pilate, the Roman prefect, and says, am I a king?

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Are you asking for yourself or is somebody telling you about me?

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Which is a very fascinating thing to say to Pilate.

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Do you want to know because you're interested in following me? Is that why you're asking?

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And Pilate, I can imagine with a smirk on his face, begins to be intrigued by this Jewish prisoner.

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And he asks the question, am I Jewish that I care about a Jewish king?

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I want to know, are you a king?

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And Jesus replies again in the Gospel of John and says, for this reason came I into the world.

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To bear witness of the truth and anybody who can see the truth when they see me, receives the truth.

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Are you a king then?

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All who see me see the truth.

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And then Pilate shows his hand.

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Pilate reveals himself and the confused nature that he had.

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Pilate looks at Jesus and says, truth.

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What is truth?

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Pilate was revealing an ancient Greek philosophy that had flooded the Roman Empire for hundreds of years.

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And that is there was no way to recognize true truth.

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Pilate was so confused about the world that he could not recognize truth when it was staring him in the face.

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Now some of you live in a society right now that has convinced you there are many truths.

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There's your truth and then there's my truth and my truth is different than your truth.

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But all of that is false.

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And one day it won't be God who sits at your trial where you're judging him.

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That's your position right now.

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As a human being you've got an opportunity to try out all the theories and philosophies and decide what is true.

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But one day you're going to stand before God and God is going to question you on this one question.

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Did you believe the truth of Jesus Christ?

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Do you know why it is that some people question?

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They have a difficult time trusting Jesus because they have trust issues.

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How many of you have trust issues like I do?

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I do. I have trust. How many of you genuinely, honestly, how many of you have a difficult time trusting people?

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You have trust issues like I do. Raise your hand.

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I have trust issues. Do you know why?

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Because I was raised in a family group of five siblings.

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You have siblings? How many of you had one specific type of sibling who was the most, let's say, rambunctious and untrustworthy sibling?

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Like there was one sibling that always got all the other siblings going.

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It was that one type. How many of you had a sibling like that? Raise your hand.

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How many of you had a... How many of you were that sibling? Raise your hand.

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Okay. You were that sibling? Yeah. You were that sibling? Yeah. So was I. That was me.

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I really was. I was... You ask any of my siblings. I was the sibling that was causing problems, always problematic.

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I'll never forget one time. My poor sister, Charity. Say her name. Charity.

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I had three sisters, Faith, Hope, and Charity. We were raised in a very religious home.

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Amen. Faith, Hope, and Charity.

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And Charity was probably about seven years old at the time.

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I was probably about nine years old. We went outside during the summertime.

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Actually, we didn't just go outside of our own free will and volition.

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My mother kicked us outside. She was done with us. Go outside and play.

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But it was summertime and it was in Las Vegas, which means it was 1,000 degrees outside.

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And so we went outside to play and she sent us out with our lunch.

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Now, our lunch typically was a peanut butter and honey sandwich.

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Anybody ever have peanut butter and honey sandwich? That's a good sandwich.

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You say jelly, no, honey, peanut butter and honey. Such a good sandwich.

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It was peanut butter and honey sandwich and water.

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Say why water? Well, because number one, there's a billion degrees outside.

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Number two, because it was free.

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How many of you grew up in a day and age where you drank water that came out of the tap?

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You didn't need it to go through a bottle, right?

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And you grab a cup of water or outside the hose, you know?

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Don't you love the taste of hose water in the summer?

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It is good. Some of these kids, they never understand. That's like life.

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See, you have peanut butter and honey sandwich in one hand, water coming out of the hose in the other.

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That was my summer. But this day was special because my mom must have been doing very well financially.

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She bought us very special juice. We rarely ever got it.

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I'm telling you, maybe we got it like once every couple of weeks.

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It was called Juicy Juice.

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Anybody remember Juicy Juice? So good. You remember Juicy Juice?

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That's the stuff right there. That is some good Juicy Juice.

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I don't think they have it anymore, do they? They went out of business.

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All the good stuff is gone. I'm such an old man.

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She gave out, my mom gave us out, each of juice box, which again rarely happened, but it was beautiful.

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They were nice and chilled. And because we lived in Las Vegas, she knew how to do it.

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Throw them in the freezer, you know what I mean? Then throw them in the fridge.

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And when you take them outside, they're kind of half frozen, you know?

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They're so yummy, man.

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So we went outside and I'm eating my sandwich and I got my Juicy Juice.

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She's eating her sandwich. She's got her Juicy Juice.

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My sister, a very competitive person.

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And for some reason, something inside of me saw that she was enjoying life too much.

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What could I do to ruin this moment? And then I had an idea.

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I said, hey, I'll bet I can drink my Juicy Juice faster than you can.

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And she said, no, you can't. I said, oh, yes, I can.

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She said, no, you can't. I said, I'll bet it. I'll bet you I can.

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I said, why don't we count to the count of three? One, two, three.

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And when I say three, we drink our Juicy Juice as fast as we possibly can and see who wins.

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She said, fine. I said, go. One, two.

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And she got ready to go. Three. And as soon as she did, she went, she took it

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and smashed it on the ground, stared me right in the eye and said, ah.

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And I looked at her with my absolutely full Juicy Juice.

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And I slurped. You win.

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And I walked over underneath a shade tree and I spent the next hour sipping on my Juicy Juice

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and smiling at my sister. How many of you agree?

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I was an evil little devil. Hey, man. So mad.

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I have forgotten about that story until she reminded me about it like two weeks ago.

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She just reminds me. She's a 41 year old bitter woman.

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I'll say it right now. Do you know why?

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Truly. Do you know why we have a difficult time trusting God?

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It's because we think that God is the same as man.

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And we've had so many men and women in our lives prove themselves to be untrustworthy.

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And so when Jesus stands before us as the way, the truth, the life,

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there's no other way to the Father. But through me, Jesus says, we say,

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well, I don't know. Let me think about it.

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Like Pilate. And you think you're intellectual. You're not. You're just confused.

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So confused. Truth itself is staring you in the eye.

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And you can't recognize it. So what does Pilate do?

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Pilate doesn't want to damn Jesus. Doesn't want to kill Jesus.

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He thinks he's just a harmless lunatic. And so look at what Pilate does.

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Pilate says in verse number six and seven, when Pilate heard that Jesus was from Galilee,

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he asked the man if he were a Galilean.

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One of the guys in the courtroom said, this man has been causing problems from Galilee all the way to Judea.

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And Pilate says, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you're from Galilee?

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And Jesus says, yes, I'm a Galilean. And Pilate gets very excited because Pilate doesn't want to put this guy to death.

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So he wants to pass the buck. Isn't that great about bureaucracies and politicians often?

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We just want to make sure we cover our own behind. And so what he does is exactly what modern day bureaucrats do.

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They pass the responsibility onto somebody else. And that's exactly what takes place in this verse, verse seven.

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And as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was in Jerusalem at that time.

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So he said, wow, you actually belong to Herod, not to me. Get out of here.

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And so Jesus goes from one trial to the next. First, Pilate.

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Pilate did not believe in Jesus because he was too confused by all of the different options.

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And Jesus just couldn't be the one truth. And that leads us to Herod.

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Some people stand in judgment against God because they're too confused.

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Some people stand in judgment against God because they're too disappointed.

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Herod Antipas, we're about to see, was very disappointed in Jesus.

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Why? Because when he finally gets to meet Jesus, Jesus did not perform the way he expected Jesus to perform.

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Look at the story. Look what happens. The Bible tells us in verse number eight.

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Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad. Stop. Who is Herod?

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Who exactly is this guy? Well, to understand who Herod is, you have to understand he was a tetrarch,

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which means the ruler of one of four areas and regions.

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Is there a map on your screen that might show us a little bit more of this?

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This shows us Herod Antipas. He's the tetrarch of Galilee.

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And you're going to see this map to the left. That's the Holy Land.

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And what had taken place is that Herod's father was named Herod the Great.

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And Herod the Great was in charge of this entire region.

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He kind of worked for Rome as like a puppet king for the entire region.

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But when he died, he divided up his empire into four different regions and left them to four different eras.

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One of them was Herod Antipas, his son, who was in charge of the purple area, Galilee and Peria.

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And Herod Antipas happened to be in Jerusalem during this entire Passover situation.

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And so as soon as Pilate found out Herod was here, he's like, look, you're not my problem. Go to Herod.

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And Herod was excited about meeting Jesus because Herod had heard all of the stories.

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Jesus had been walking around Galilee, his entire region, you know, healing people and casting out demons,

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walking on water, turning water into wine. Jesus was like a cool magic man.

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And Herod had not yet seen the show.

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And so Herod was really excited to meet Jesus. Look, that's exactly what it says.

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It says, and Herod, when he saw Jesus, was exceedingly glad for he had desired for a long time to see Jesus

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because he had heard the many things about him and hoped that he would do some miracle.

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But unfortunately for Jesus, Jesus did not perform any miracles for the big shot king.

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Look what happens. So he questioned him with many words, but Jesus answered him nothing.

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Hey, welcome. Welcome. I've heard so much about you. Do your tricks.

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Imagine this now. The Son of God, the descendant of Adam, the King of kings, the Lord of lords

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standing in front of a puppet king, and the king says to him, do your magic tricks.

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And Jesus says nothing. Do you know why? Here's why.

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Because Jesus is not a circus monkey. Jesus is not a genie in the bottle.

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You just rub the lamp and then all of a sudden Jesus comes out and says, what can I do to serve you?

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And so Herod is really disappointed. Come on, water the wine. Come on.

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I need you to walk on some water. Come on, Jesus. Do what I told you to do.

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And if you don't perform, I won't believe.

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We still have a lot of Herods today.

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Because let's be honest. You don't really think of God as the one who created you with a very perfect plan for your life.

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You view God like a genie. You rub the lamp a few times, show up to church, say a few prayers,

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and if God doesn't perform exactly the way you want a circus monkey to perform, then you're out, bro. You're out.

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Because the best way to hurt a God who doesn't perform for you is to say to him, I don't believe in you anyway.

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Herod, have you ever been disappointed by somebody that you admired?

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Have you ever met somebody you always wanted to meet and they disappointed you?

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I got to tell you, I've been on both sides of that.

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I've definitely disappointed some people.

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Over the years as this church has grown, I've become somewhat of a very tiny public figure.

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So people know me, but I don't know them.

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And I've disappointed people.

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Just recently, a few months ago, it was a Tuesday night Bible study and I had somebody come up to me after the service.

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The week before in the Bible study, I had mentioned it's 8.15. I'm tired.

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I'm going to go grab some Taco Bell and go home and go to bed.

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I just mentioned it. God bless Taco Bell. Amen.

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I'm like, I'm ready. Look, don't judge me. All of you are sinners too. You know, every single one of you.

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You're all a sinner. We're all sinners. All right.

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Well, anyway, I'm sitting there and I talk about Taco Bell next Tuesday.

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Before the service began, I had this. The Bible said we can.

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I had this dear, sweet, wonderful, love this woman, wonderful Mexican member of our church come up to me.

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Say, why would you tell her where she's from? You'll know why in a moment.

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She stood right here and she had me kneel down and she said, Pastor, take my hands.

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And she took my hands like this. And she looked up at me with sincerity in her eyes.

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She said, Pastor, last week you mentioned that you were going to go eat Taco Bell.

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I said, yeah. I said, I like Mexican food. She said,

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you could see the pain in her eyes. She held my hands. She said, Pastor,

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Taco Bell is not Mexican food. I don't even think it's food.

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And then she made me promise her, she said, Pastor, next time you want Taco Bell,

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would you call me and I will bring you real Mexican food?

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I said, yes, ma'am. Don't tell her I still go to Taco Bell.

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Amen. I still do that. You ever been disappointed by somebody that you admired?

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I was at a coffee shop years and years ago. This is not recent.

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Years and years ago with a member of our church, and she was a sweet woman

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who had become really angry with God.

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And so I was trying to understand why. I was a young pastor at the time

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and had not seen this very often. I asked her, I said, why are you so angry with God?

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She told me this story, that story, this excuse, that excuse,

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but then it came down to this moment. I could tell she was finally getting to the crux of the matter.

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She said, Pastor, let me tell you what happened to me. I said, okay.

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She said I was 15 years old and tears just filled her eyes.

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My grandmother was dying.

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She said I had never truly prayed, not like I prayed that day,

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and I knelt by her bedside in the hospital and I cried out to God,

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God save my grandmother, save my grandmother.

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And she's telling me this and now she's shaking and tears are coming down.

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And I said, what happened? She said, I'll tell you what happened.

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It wasn't the next week and it wasn't the next day.

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It was that very hour that God took my grandma from me.

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She's weeping. Now I'm crying.

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Now I know there's a rational and logical part of your brain that's engaged right now.

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The rational and logical part of your brain is like what?

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I mean, people live and then they grow old and then they die.

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Yeah, I know that and you know that, but you're tapping into the rational, logical part of your brain,

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not the emotional need that we often bring before God.

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And we go to God with sincerity of heart and say, God, if you have any power, do this for me.

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And then sometimes God disappoints us.

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Now I know what you're thinking. Some of you are like, but maybe God has a bigger plan

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and maybe God's plan was this or that or whatever.

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We ought to trust God. I know all those answers and she's heard all those answers,

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but it doesn't change the fact that as human beings, when we get disappointed with God,

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the best thing we can do to hurt God is to say, I don't even believe you exist.

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And then we walk away and say that our perspective is rational and intellectual and deep

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because at some point God did not perform for us the way we demanded him to perform.

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Do you know who it is that puts God on trial? Humans like us.

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Some of us put God on trial because we're like pilot.

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We've seen so many truths that Jesus is just one of the many.

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Some of us put God on trial like Herod because we're not just confused.

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We are disappointed in how God has treated us.

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And then lastly, there's a third. Do you remember the third? The confused, the disappointed.

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What was the third? The willful.

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Where Herod is disappointed and pilot is confused, the crowd is willful.

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Meaning they are willful to put Jesus to death.

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The crowd is given a choice and the choice they make, they determine to eliminate Jesus.

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Look what it says in verse 13.

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Then Pilate when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,

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said to them, you have brought this man to me as one who misleads the people.

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And indeed having examined him in your presence, I found no fault in this man.

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If you remember the story, Pilate is taken and takes him to Herod.

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Now Jesus is taken from Herod and brought back to Pilate.

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Pilate stands before the entire group of people and he says, look, I've examined the man

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and I find no fault in him.

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But to satisfy the bloodlust of the crowd, he says, okay, here's what I'll do.

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I will chastise him. I will beat him and then I'll present him to you

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and maybe you'll want him released and he'll be free to go.

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There was a special tradition during that day.

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Because it was a holiday, like we have Thanksgiving and Christmas,

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they had a special holiday called Passover and one of the traditions was for the Roman prefect

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to stand in front of the people and let one of the prisoners go,

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even though they had broken Roman law.

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It was like a gift from the Romans to the plebs, you see.

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And so what Pilate thought was, I'll beat him with some whips

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and then I'll present Jesus as the one who could be freed.

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That was his idea. So they did. They beat Jesus.

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When the Bible says they chastised him, the other Gospels give us more indication

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of what that actually looked like.

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They took a whip, not a long Indiana Jones type whip that you might be thinking of,

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but a whip with multiple leather strands.

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And they would take the prisoner, the Romans would,

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and they would tie them around a post, shackle them there.

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And the whip that they took, that multiple strands,

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some of you might call it a cat of nine-tels, which historically is inaccurate.

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A cat of nine-tels was a British invention of the 17th century.

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This was called a Roman flagrum.

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And they would take this wooden handle with six, five or six leather straps.

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And at the end of each leather strap, they would embed into the leather

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a bone from a sheep's knuckle that sharpenly had a hook at the end.

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Then they would put actual metal hooks alongside of the bone fragments

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so that when a Roman soldier would whip a prisoner,

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the whip would go around like a claw and latch into the side of the prisoner.

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And instead of falling out, it would lodge.

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And then what the Roman soldier would do is with great strength and precision

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would then rip him out of his side.

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And in doing so, lacerate the side of the individual, flagrum.

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It's the same Latin word in which we get the concept of filet to filet,

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ripping open the side of the prisoner.

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They didn't do it once or twice.

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They would do it dozens and dozens of time.

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According to Jewish law, they could only whip a prisoner 39 times, not a 40th.

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Romans had no such qualms.

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The goal was not to whip somebody a certain number of times.

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The goal was to whip a prisoner to the point of death, but not kill them.

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They would not have just one Roman soldier do this.

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They would have two.

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Because it took so much strength to whip and then to pull.

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You could only do it so many times before you were out of breath yourself.

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And so then the second would come in and whip the other side.

401
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And so there Jesus was wounded.

402
00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:09,160
For our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.

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The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes.

404
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We were healed.

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It was during the same time that Jesus was taken.

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And the Roman soldiers thought it was funny because whenever he was before Herod,

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they had given Jesus a big purple robe to wear.

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Why? Because he was the king.

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And the Roman soldiers thought, that's hilarious.

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We can do that too.

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And so it was during this time they crafted a special crown for the king out of thorns.

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And they placed that crown of thorns upon his brow.

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And they put that purple robe from Herod around his back.

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The back that now was bloodied and ripped apart bleeding.

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As his body began to bleed into the actual fabric and fused as it dried.

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And then they took a reed and they said, give the king a staff.

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And so they grabbed the staff.

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And according to the Gospel of John, they took the reed and they smote him on the head.

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Driving the crown of thorns deep into his brow.

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And they gave him the reed and there Jesus stood as the mock king of the Jews.

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The son of man here to claim Adam's throne.

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The son of God and king of kings.

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And Pilate thought the bloodlust of the people would be slacked.

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And so he brought the people.

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Brought Jesus before the people.

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And Pilate at this point who did not want Jesus to die looked and said, okay, okay.

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I beat, are you okay?

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Here he is.

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Are you satisfied?

430
00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:04,160
Because today there's a tradition to release to you one of prisoners.

431
00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:09,160
And I want to present to you Jesus of Nazareth or.

432
00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:15,160
And then we're introduced to a tiley different person, a strange character that throws himself

433
00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:17,160
into the midst of the narrative.

434
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:21,160
A man called Barabbas.

435
00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:22,160
Say it with me.

436
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:25,160
Barabbas.

437
00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:30,160
Verse 18 and they cried out once saying away with this man and release unto us.

438
00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:35,160
Barabbas, Barabbas, Barabbah.

439
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:36,160
Barabbah.

440
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:39,160
The name Barabbas is interesting.

441
00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:43,160
The character himself is fascinating.

442
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:47,160
Jesus is referred to as the son of God and the son of man.

443
00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:49,160
Is he not?

444
00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:51,160
What is the name Barabbas?

445
00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:56,160
Bar, son, son of, bar, son of, Abba.

446
00:36:56,160 --> 00:37:00,160
Father, the son of a father.

447
00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:10,160
So here there is now a prisoner coming out of prison called the, by name, the son of some father.

448
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:18,160
Standing next to Jesus Christ, the son of God, the son of man.

449
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:19,160
Now why was he in prison?

450
00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:23,160
Well, he had been thrown in prison for a certain rebellion that was made in the city and for murder.

451
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:24,160
He was a murderer.

452
00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:28,160
He was probably part of that political community called the zealots.

453
00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:32,160
Those who were willing to use terrorism to get Rome out.

454
00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:39,160
And now he was standing on the dais, on the judgment seat at the petroleum with Jesus on one side,

455
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:43,160
Barabbas on the other, Pilate in the middle and the crowd standing there.

456
00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:46,160
And Pilate says, which one do you want?

457
00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:51,160
Barabbas the murderer or Jesus the carpenter.

458
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:57,160
And Pilate thinks there's no way the crowd is going to choose the murderer.

459
00:37:57,160 --> 00:37:59,160
And the crowd is so willful.

460
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:03,160
They call out, give us Barabbas.

461
00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:05,160
What do I do with Jesus?

462
00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:16,160
Crucify him.

463
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:19,160
Here's the thing about humans.

464
00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:28,160
We make our choices.

465
00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:29,160
Look up here.

466
00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:36,160
Look, I don't know who you are, but I will tell you something about yourself.

467
00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:43,160
God loves you and God wants you, but he gives you the choice to want him and choose him.

468
00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:46,160
Say, but I don't want Jesus as my king.

469
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:50,160
Fair, do your thing.

470
00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:53,160
Pick Barabbas, pick yourself, pick another God.

471
00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:58,160
It is totally up to you.

472
00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:00,160
But you have to live with your choice.

473
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:04,160
And so did these people.

474
00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:10,160
They willfully chose the poor option.

475
00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:11,160
You don't believe me?

476
00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:14,160
Look at the text goes on, but they shout and crucify him, crucified him.

477
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:16,160
And he said unto them a third time, why?

478
00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:18,160
What evil is he done?

479
00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:20,160
I have found no reason of death in him.

480
00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:22,160
I will therefore chastise him and let him go.

481
00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:23,160
But they were insistent.

482
00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:27,160
Notice how insistent the human rebellious heart can be.

483
00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:30,160
I don't want God.

484
00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:33,160
I'll take anything else.

485
00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:36,160
Demanding with loud voices that he could be crucified.

486
00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:39,160
And the voices of these men and the chief priests prevailed.

487
00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:44,160
So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested.

488
00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:50,160
And he released unto them the one they requested, Barabbas.

489
00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:53,160
Who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison.

490
00:39:53,160 --> 00:40:00,160
And notice the haunting last words of verse number 25.

491
00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:09,160
But he delivered Jesus to their will.

492
00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:12,160
God gave them exactly what they asked for.

493
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:15,160
I believe that God is going to give you exactly what you asked for.

494
00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:19,160
I believe God is giving America exactly what it asks for.

495
00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:24,160
I believe God is going to give Las Vegas exactly what it asks for.

496
00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:26,160
God is not here.

497
00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:27,160
Listen, listen.

498
00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:29,160
Some of you are feeling forced by God.

499
00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:30,160
Be very clear.

500
00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:35,160
God is not in the business of forcing himself on anyone.

501
00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:37,160
He freely offers himself to you.

502
00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:41,160
And if you choose to reject him, that's you.

503
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:45,160
That's your choice.

504
00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:48,160
You say, man, I cannot believe they did that with Jesus.

505
00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:50,160
The question is not what did they do with Jesus.

506
00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:55,160
The question is what will you do with Jesus?

507
00:40:55,160 --> 00:40:57,160
I don't want to be Pilate in the story.

508
00:40:57,160 --> 00:40:58,160
I don't want to be Herod in the story.

509
00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:00,160
I don't want to be the crowd in the story.

510
00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:04,160
So who am I in the story?

511
00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:07,160
I'll tell you who I empathize with.

512
00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:08,160
I relate with.

513
00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:11,160
I relate with Barabbas.

514
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:16,160
I'm just the son of a father.

515
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:19,160
Can we think about Barabbas before we go?

516
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:21,160
And then we'll be done.

517
00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:22,160
Think about Barabbas.

518
00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:25,160
He's just a...

519
00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:29,160
He's just a gangster.

520
00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:30,160
Did he commit murder?

521
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:31,160
Yes or no?

522
00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:32,160
Yes.

523
00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:34,160
Was he guilty of hurting people?

524
00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:35,160
Yes or no?

525
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:37,160
Did he deserve to be in prison?

526
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:38,160
Yes or no?

527
00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:40,160
Now think about it from his perspective.

528
00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:41,160
There he is in prison.

529
00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:44,160
The night before he had been told this is his final meal.

530
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:45,160
He ate his final meal.

531
00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:47,160
Imagine what that's like.

532
00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:51,160
Maybe some torturous Roman soldier brought him out of the prison cell

533
00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:53,160
and walked him over to where the cross was.

534
00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:55,160
And he pointed and said,

535
00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:56,160
There it is, Barabbas.

536
00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:59,160
There's your cross.

537
00:41:59,160 --> 00:42:01,160
Tomorrow morning you're going to pick it up

538
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:04,160
and we're going to take you down and we're going to kill you.

539
00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:08,160
Barabbas knew this was the end for him.

540
00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:11,160
And there he is in his prison cell knowing this is his last moment.

541
00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:16,160
And he was getting exactly what he deserved.

542
00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:21,160
Was Barabbas guilty or not guilty?

543
00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:27,160
Now picture Barabbas at the judgment seat.

544
00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:31,160
What the Bible historians refer to as the Praetorium.

545
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:37,160
Jesus on one side, Barabbas on the other, the judge in the middle.

546
00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:38,160
He doesn't know who Jesus is.

547
00:42:38,160 --> 00:42:40,160
He'd never even heard of this guy.

548
00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:44,160
But suddenly he's getting an opportunity at a last minute freedom.

549
00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:47,160
And he says to the crowd, the crowd itself,

550
00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:49,160
you have a choice between this guy and me.

551
00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:51,160
He knows there's no way they're going to pick him.

552
00:42:51,160 --> 00:42:53,160
And all of a sudden the crowd is shouting out,

553
00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:55,160
Barabbas, Barabbas, Barabbas.

554
00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:56,160
And he's thinking, this is it.

555
00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:58,160
This is my chance.

556
00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:02,160
This guy is going to die on my cross.

557
00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:06,160
In this moment, is Barabbas guilty or not guilty?

558
00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:13,160
Guilty.

559
00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:16,160
Now I want you to picture Barabbas.

560
00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:21,160
As the Bible says, Jesus is now taken.

561
00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:28,160
And he has walked down the Via della Rosa to pick up his cross

562
00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:31,160
and walk the way to Calvary.

563
00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:34,160
And Barabbas is standing here.

564
00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:39,160
As his shackles are taken off of his hands

565
00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:44,160
and they're placed on Jesus.

566
00:43:44,160 --> 00:43:48,160
And Barabbas is told, you're free to go.

567
00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:56,160
Jesus is going to die in your place.

568
00:43:56,160 --> 00:44:04,160
And he walks away justified, declared righteous by the judge,

569
00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:09,160
free and forgiven.

570
00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:14,160
And friend, in the story, you don't have to be pilot, hered

571
00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:15,160
or the crowd.

572
00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:19,160
You can be Barabbas.

573
00:44:19,160 --> 00:44:23,160
Understanding that you are absolutely guilty

574
00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:25,160
and deserve the death of the cross,

575
00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:29,160
but that Jesus Christ came and took your place

576
00:44:29,160 --> 00:44:37,160
so that you don't have to die.

577
00:44:37,160 --> 00:44:40,160
There are no grand records of what take place

578
00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:42,160
for the rest of Barabbas' life.

579
00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:43,160
We don't know.

580
00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:45,160
There are rumors.

581
00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:47,160
Some traditions say he became a great apostle

582
00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:50,160
and follower of Jesus, a disciple who preached the gospel.

583
00:44:50,160 --> 00:44:56,160
Others say he went into obscurity.

584
00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:58,160
I don't know what's going to happen to Barabbas,

585
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:02,160
but I do wonder what's going to happen to you.

586
00:45:02,160 --> 00:45:05,160
When you finally come to the realization that Jesus Christ

587
00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:07,160
took your place upon the cross,

588
00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:11,160
the question is, will you give the rest of your life to him

589
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:40,160
for doing for you what you could not do for yourself?