Standing Before Jesus| Follow-Walking in the Way of Jesus | Sunday March 22, 2026

When Jesus takes the punishment that we all deserve so that we can be free, the question is, what are we gonna do with that? You and I stand on this same stage with Christ, and he says to us, be free. Go live your life. Let me take the suffering. Let me take the punishment. You go. I will receive the requirements of your injustice on myself. In that way, in this moment, Jesus is substituting himself for Barabbas to show what he does for all of us, [00:39:27] (34 seconds)  #LiveFreeInChrist

though our sin deserved death, Jesus took that on himself. To see behind that motivation, love. See, that's the greatest power in the universe. The love of Jesus that demonstrated his willingness to go to the cross for us, but also God's power to raise him from the dead. Jesus does so in self sacrifice. He demonstrates the truth is power by embracing powerlessness. And Jesus demonstrates that to accomplish true justice, you have to be willing to suffer injustice. [00:45:07] (36 seconds)  #LoveWinsThroughSacrifice

It is not abstract, though. It's a person. It's Jesus. Jesus is the truth. So Pilate has truth standing in front of him. Not just Jesus claims are true, Jesus is the embodiment of truth, and yet he is not willing to stand up for truth. Instead, he compromises to political pressure and allows Jesus to be crucified, and is a participant then in the greatest act of evil ever performed on the face of the earth. [00:33:50] (41 seconds)  #JesusIsTheTruth

Yes. There's human pressure. Yes. There's cowardice. But God is accomplishing his redemptive purposes through this event. A human reading of it would look and say, everything's gone wrong. A guilty man walks free, an innocent man is condemned. You'd say, this story is chaos. And we would say, no. It's actually the gospel. Jesus is not a victim of circumstances. He's the obedient son walking the path to save us all. Jesus is not defeated by injustice. [00:46:22] (34 seconds)  #RedemptionThroughObedience

Be freed from the power of sin. I've taken it on myself. You can be freed from the penalty of sin. No longer live in shame. You're one day gonna be freed from the presence of sin. You're gonna live in a world, the new heaven and the new earth, when heaven and earth collide one day upon Jesus return and sin and its effects have been removed. We get that kind of hope. Man, I can't wait for that day. [00:42:07] (26 seconds)  #FreedomFromSin

That's the power of this gospel. That's the power of this story embodied for all of us, that Jesus, even now, because he's alive, is seeking us out to see that that we might see what he has done, that it might change our hearts, that we might hate our sinfulness and our selfishness and turn ourselves to him because we see what our sin and selfishness cost him. And yet, in his grace, he calls us all to himself and says, live a new life. [00:41:35] (32 seconds)  #ChasedByGrace

In that way, in this moment, Jesus is substituting himself for Barabbas to show what he does for all of us, that the only innocent one who could take my sin did so willingly, was victimized, was crucified so that you and I could be set free. And yet, the question lands on all of us. Can I live in that gratefulness? Can I see what Jesus has actually done for me? Or do I look at Barabbas and I say, that dude is way worse than me? [00:39:53] (41 seconds)  #LiveInGratitude

That's why I think religion, this idea that that we can live into some sort of holy moral standard and call ourselves good people, is one of the greatest lies that Satan has told. I said before, I keep coming back to it, that the greatest enemies of the gospel, of the power of the gospel in your life is religion and morality because they convince us we don't need a savior. That's what the chief priests are doing. [00:40:35] (37 seconds)  #ReligionIsNotEnough