Don't believe me just watch

1.      Every time Jesus predicts His death, burial and resurrection He does so with a “don't believe me just watch” conversation.

Matthew 16:21-26 NLT "[21] From then on Jesus began to tell His disciples plainly that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem, and that He would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day He would be raised from the dead. [22] But Peter took Him aside and began to reprimand Him for saying such things. "Heaven forbid, Lord," He said. "This will never happen to you!" [23] Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Get away from Me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to Me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's." [24] Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow Me. [25] If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it. [26] And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?"

1.      Salvation is a free gift from God.

1.      Jesus is enough.

1.      Don't believe me just watch!

2.      Don't believe me just test Him!

1.      Don't believe me just encounter it for yourself!

2.      Jesus came down to their level because they could never rise to His.

1.      He was never out to prove how good He was or how bad they were.

2.      He just wanted to offer them hope.

2.      Jesus again predicts His death, burial, and resurrection telling them a second time.

1.      He's not forgetful.

1.      He is sharing the plan of God, He's sharing a vision, He's sharing the purpose of His coming.

Matthew 17:22-23 NLT [22] "After they gathered again in Galilee, Jesus told them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of His enemies. [23] He will be killed, but on the third day He will be raised from the dead." And the disciples were filled with grief."

2.      Don't believe me just watch.

1.      Here they are, filled with grief instead of thanks.

2.      Filled with stress instead of peace.

3.      Filled with questions, disbelief, filled with misunderstanding and totally missing the entirety of His life mission. 

3.      Jesus predicts His death but most importantly He told of His resurrection.

1.      Unfortunately the disciples only want to hear the first part of of Jesus' words and became discouraged.

1.      We shouldn't get upset at ourselves for being unable to understand everything about Jesus.

2.      After all, the disciples spent three years with Him, saw His miracles with their own eyes, heard His words with their own ears, and still had difficulty understanding.

3.      Despite their questions and doubts, they believed.

1.      We should do no less.

2.      The disciples didn't understand why Jesus kept talking about His death, thinking how will He ever set up His kingdom, if He's dead?

1.      They never realized that His death, burial, and resurrection is what would make His Kingdom possible.

1.      In and through Christ's resurrection resides our entire belief and faith.

3.      His final prediction of His death, burial, and resurrection and He definitively mentions His crucifixion.

Matthew 20:17-19 NLT "[17] As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to Him. [18] "Listen," He said, "we're going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence Him to die. [19] Then they will hand Him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day He will be raised from the dead."

4.      It's a short window of my absence, "don't believe me, just watch."

1.      I am coming back.

5.      Mark 16 He is not here He has been raised from the dead!

1.      Jesus could have rolled back the stone Himself by His own power, but He chose to have it done by an angel to signify that having undertaken the task of making satisfaction for our sin, He did not break prison, but had a fair and legal discharge, obtained from heaven.

2.      He did not prison break, but an officer was sent on purpose to roll away the stone and open the prison door, so that all may obtain eternal life.

1.      The stone wasn't rolled away so Jesus could get out but so that we could get in.

1.      They didn't even roll the stone back God did, God you did it not so Jesus could escape but so we could enter.

2.      God rolled the stone back so that we could see, hear, and have access to Him.

3.      So that we could understand, so that we could connect, and ultimately so that all could believe.

Matthew 27:15-26 NLT "[15] Now it was the governor's custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner to the crowd-anyone they wanted. [16] This year there was a notorious prisoner, a man named Barabbas. [17] As the crowds gathered before Pilate's house that morning, he asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you-Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?" [18] (He knew very well that the religious leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy.) [19] Just then, as Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message: "Leave that innocent man alone. I suffered through a terrible nightmare about him last night." [20] Meanwhile, the leading priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be put to death. [21] So the governor asked again, "Which of these two do you want me to release to you?" The crowd shouted back, "Barabbas!" [22] Pilate responded, "Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?" They shouted back, "Crucify him!" [23] "Why?" Pilate demanded. "What crime has he committed?" But the mob roared even louder, "Crucify him!" [24] Pilate saw that he wasn't getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood. The responsibility is yours!" [25] And all the people yelled back, "We will take responsibility for his death-we and our children!" [26] So Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified."

6.      Pilate listens to the masses instead of his conscience, Roman law said Christ was an innocent man, and his wife's nightmare was all speaking to him but he was afraid of the crowd.

1.      Oh how many times have we been afraid of the crowd.

7.      Vs. 20 The leading priests and the elders persuade the crowd to ask for Barabbas.

4.      We see the story of Jesus going to the cross and everything seems to be kind of hand in hand.

1.      And there's this character that seems to interrupt the narrative.

2.      His name's Barabbas we don't even know much about him except that he's a murderer, the leader of an insurrection, and a rebel why he's even mentioned sometimes I'm not so sure.

1.      It's like what!!??

1.      This is all about Jesus, going to the cross.

3.      So in this moment Pilate thinks I hold the destinies of these two men in my hand.

4.      I know the Jews have a tradition.

1.      So the people of God could see mercy, grace, and forgiveness in action, they would release a death row prisoner on this Holy day.

5.      Pilate stands on this audacious stage who now presents Jesus Son of the Living God versus Barabbas the thug and rebel.

1.      Alright who do you want?

1.      This is blasphemy this is gone too far there's no comparison.

2.      This is a rightful prisoner a man who should be on death row.

1.      He's a rebel against wrong, he leads a rebellion, he murders people.

2.      He's a bad man he's a thug and a crook.

3.      He deserves the chains and he deserves the crucifixion.

3.      Jesus what has He done but heal, restore, deliver, set free, open blind eyes, open deaf years, heal the lame and the leper.

1.      What has Jesus done?

6.      Who do you want?

1.      We want Barabbas!

2.      Yeah, give us Barabbas!

7.      People say, "Give us Barabbas," the Roman soldiers just come up put the key in and unlocked Barabbas from his chains and shackles.

1.      And he walks down the platform welcomed by all of his thug friends, "Yeah", "The people love me."

1.      "Yeah that's right!" "I don't even know who this Jesus guy is but all I know is my people love me."

1.      There seems to be no conscience and Barabbas.

2.      There's no record of him turning to Jesus and saying I owe you everything now for you have set me free.

1.      No, no you don't see any of that in Barabbas and God knew that.

3.      Jesus stood there silent for He knew the will of the father He said "It's fine Father let them have Barabbas" for Jesus knew that the Father would have to treat Jesus like Barabbas so He could treat Barabbas like Jesus.

2.      Barabbas thought it was the people that set him free no, no, no, no it was the love of a Heavenly father.

1.      When I look at the story I realize something, Barabbas, is me, that's you, that's us.

3.      I felt like as I was reading this the other day and I felt God speak to me "I love Barabbas I love him."

1.      But God he's a bad man.

1.      "I love him."

2.      "I wanted him to go free."

3.      But didn't you know that he probably would've never acknowledged the free gift, "Yeah but I love Barabbas, I need him to know that."

Romans 5:8 NLT [8] "But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."

8.      If you feel bound to sin, if you haven’t given your life to the One who gave life to you He is here this morning and He desperately wants you to know that He loves you.

1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

9.      I don't know what you might each consider to be the worst of the worst here in Ukiah and that might just be the problem but I do know Jesus loves them.

1.      Some of us don’t even know the worst, while Jesus went to the worst.

1.      God loves all people, aligned with Him or not.

2.      Every one of us are dead in our sins without Jesus Christ (Eph. 2).

1.      Every one.

3.      God sent His Son for Barabbas, for you, for me, even for the one He knew would walk away from Jesus, turning Him away never receiving His free gift and never coming back.

1.      He loves him and the nerve, the audacity of believers to think I got saved by grace but now that I'm in this deep dark place of bondage I better work hard to get myself out, What!!??

10.That's the opposite of the Gospel.

11.Are you bound are you held under the power of this temptation and sin?

12.Do you feel like it's controlling you?

13.What are you going to do?

1.      I'm going to shake my self free. Stop it!

1.      You're no match for the powers of hell and the urges of sin.

2.      You will not overcome it and you will never overcome it.

3.      You'll just be another statistic.

1.      There's no answer within yourself, your own marriage, your own goodness, your own discipline, your own devotion, will not save your marriage it will not save your kids, it will not save you soul.

5.      There's only one and He's the one that took your place.

1.      He's the one that stood silently on the platform with Pilate and said yes let them have Barabbas.

2.      "Take me!"

1.      How many times have I stood on that platform with Pilate, Jesus and Barabbas and they start to take off my chains and I said, "No I deserve this."

1.      "I deserve the guilt."

2.      "I deserve the shame."

3.      "I deserve the consequence."

4.      "I deserve it."

2.      Jesus seems to look at me and say, "No son let me have it let me have your sin. Let me have your pain."

1.      "No God I did it to myself, I deserve it."

2.      "My marriage won't make it this is what I deserve. I deserve divorce. I deserve poverty. I deserve sickness I deserve it all, "No."

3.      "God I'm so ashamed."

1.      "Give me your shame."

4.      "But God what if I do it again?"

1.      "I'd still be here."

5.      "Oh God I don't want to hurt you."

6.      "I love you."

7.      "I don't want to do this anymore."

1.      "Give me your sin son."

3.      This is all we got, this is all I got, this is all you got.

1.      We could play games, we could play church games we can pretend like some people are better than others and that's why they're blessed or we can all come to the honest conclusion that it's God.

1.      And it is God alone.

2.      The greatest challenge is not you discipline, your devotion or your focus.

1.      Your greatest challenge is believing the gospel.

3.      Could it be that there's a God with a love so scandalous, so wide, so deep, so vast, so high, so expansive, so welcoming, and so inclusive.

1.      "Let me have your sin son."

4.      "Okay."

5.      And I give it to Him.

6.      I stand in this empty space of forgiveness and acceptance, while Jesus walks off to the cross that I deserve.

7.      I see Him, I see Him walking to the post to be whipped as I stand a free man.

1.      All the attention is turned now I feel the love of God saying, "Go son, live your life, I'll pay the price."

1.      Where did we get off thinking that we were going to set ourselves free?

1.      It's Jesus, it's still Jesus, it'll always be Jesus and it'll never stop being the power of Jesus.

2.      His blood is sufficient for your salvation.

3.      His blood is sufficient to sustain you through every challenge and every sin and every temptation.

1.      Jesus is enough!

2.      It IS finished. Paid in full.

4.      Jesus didn't walk in a put down a down payment on our sin He paid for it in full!

5.      He paid with His life, He paid with His blood, He paid with His sacrifice and He sealed it with His resurrection.

2.      Judas agrees to betray Jesus, the violent mob choose Barabbas to take Jesus' place in freedom, Barabbas excitedly and willingly concurs.

3.      The religious leaders decide to disbelieve and secretly plan to crucify Jesus.

4.      The Romans follow the orders of the angry people and the religious mob for fear of a riot and they perform one of their most masterful yet barbaric executions.

5.      The disciples abandon Jesus for fear of their lives, one thief rejects Jesus and one thief believes in Jesus, the question in this moment is what will you do with Jesus?

A betrayal, a denial, or belief, what group will you choose to be in?