2819 Church - CROSS TO COMMISSION | Choose Christ | Matthew 27:15-26 | Philip Anthony Mitchell

Episode Date: January 19, 2026

In a powerful week 10 of our series CROSS TO COMMISSION, Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell taught from Matthew 27:15–26, placing before us the question that confronts every heart: What shall we do with Jesus who is called Christ? Though declared innocent, Jesus was rejected and handed over to suffer according to the Father’s will. In a world marked by sin and rebellion, this message calls every disciple to CHOOSE CHRIST.

guest we welcome you to 2819 these sacred and holy gatherings that not even the devil can stop and we welcome you to a family that is striving on the front line of battle for the spread of the gospel and the multiplying disciples and we will not stay quiet and will not tuck our tail and will not run and stand ten toes down for the Lord Jesus Christ no matter what that cost. For we are aware that time is running out, that we are coming on to the end of the church age, and that the devil is busy, and that he's working through people who are blind. Sometimes all of that opposition is just a sign of God's anointing upon a person, a house, a ministry,

and that we're going to be a global family on the front line of this battle, lifting up Jesus, exalting the person of Christ, calling the sinner to repentance and the saint to mission, no matter what that costs. And to our global family,

and not all of you got the right intentions. We love you, our global family, all of our digital disciples watching live across America and around the world. We are a global army. wherever you are taking territory for the Lord Jesus Christ in cities and nations and countries all around the world in these last days the spirit of Issaqar is on 2819 global

for we are a people that discern the times and we know what to do about it and to all of our family behind prison bars all of you watching live right now in correctional institutions all around the country. It doesn't matter if you behind bars are out here, it's warfare wherever you are, is Christ wherever you are.

You are minister right where you are. And you take territory in your cell, your hall, your D block. Because if we ain't about that, we're wasting our time. If we're not about the exaltation of Christ and the pushing out of the gospel and the fidelity to the scriptures, all of this is a waste of time. But we don't have time for shows.

Don't got time to be playing around. Don't got time for entertainment and nonsense. Ween about that life. And to the unbeliever in the chat, maybe for the wrong reason or the unbeliever in the room on the overflow. We're still glad you're here. We want you to know you can belong before you believe. You can skepticize and be among us before you believe.

My prayer for you is that in a moment you'll feel the spirit of God calling you to the Lord Jesus Christ before you took your last breath and time has run out on you for you not tough enough to die apart from Christ and don't nobody want to see a box at a funeral apart

from Christ and our prayer for you is that you will be on the other side of glory with us before time has run out. The devil is a lie. We're at the very end of our three years study through the book of Matthew as we are landing the plane

with the final few messages in a series called Cross to Commission, where we are studying Matthew 26 to 28 together the final days, the final hours of the life, Jesus Christ, of the life of Jesus. And we are looking at the two most important events in human history, the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ, without which we have no hope at all in this life. We have no, all of this is vain. Paul said if Christ is not raised.

Our text today is coming from Matthew 27, verses 15 through 26. Spirit of the living God. Lord, would you have your way in this place? And in this gathering. That's it, Lord, have your way. I ask in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our soon-coming king,

the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. And amen. And amen. One of the most powerful things that has been built into the human experience is this powerful thing that we call justice. It shows up at the very beginning of time

when a brother who was jealous of another brother killed his brother because one brother made acceptable sacrifice unto God and the other one who was filled with jealousy and rage killed his brother seeking his own justice. And from the beginning of time, this concept of justice has been built into the human experience. We've seen this if we've been on social media, or have you've seen trials of a family that have shed tears in a courtroom

when a person who has been guilty of a crime, murder, rape, molestation, whatever it is, walks out of a courtroom free and a family feels like they did not get justice on that day. Or we've seen this in our society when a person who was innocent is sentenced to find, years, 10 years, 20 years in prison, and we felt like the justice system did not work right that day. We've seen stories of people who have come out of prison after 20, 30 years, only to say DNA evidence have proven the fact that they were innocent all that time and that they were just victims of injustice.

And for those of us, man, who've been alive a little bit longer than 15 minutes, for some of us, we can testify of what it feels like to be on the receiving end of injustice. And if you haven't been on the receiving end of injustice, maybe I'm a senior citizen at 2819. I get it. You just keep living. And I'll show you, the more you keep living, some of you will die with a testimony saying you know what it feels like to be on the other side of injustice. When someone has done you wrong or people you love have done you wrong or when you've been betrayed and you've been on the other side of injustice and you shed in tears because of what people have done to you all the while, the Lord forbids you from. vengeance or forbids you from fighting back when the spirit of God whispers to you in your soul don't fight back vengeance is mine say it the Lord and for some of us who are not all the way where

we need to be we're still journeying on our progress of sanctification we know the pain of dealing with injustice and feeling like you want to retaliate even a person with the microphone pray for me that part of me is not fully redeemed that's that part of you that says man you don't like me don't like you. You don't love me. I don't love you. You come after me. I'll come after you. And for some of us, we know what it feels like to be wrong and something inside you. And they want to fight back. You want to say something. You want to comment. All the while the spirit of God restrains you from doing that. And now you've got to feel the weight of God to trust him, that he would bring vengeance. He will vindicate. He will take a stand for you. That is not always

difficult to do. That's not always easy. Sometimes it's very difficult to do. It's very difficult to do. And yet this is what we come to in the reality of the text. And I talk to you like this in the beginning of these messages because I want you to understand that these things that we read are not fables and fairy tales. These are the accounts, historical accounts, real human beings, including your Lord. And I talk to you like this that you can feel what the people felt in the text at the day and time in which this happened. We've come now to the back half of the trial of the ages. The most important trial in the history of mankind, the trial of the Lord Jesus Christ. For you know how the Lord came preaching, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

He came doing miracles, healing people, raising the dead. He set off a revival in the nation of Israel. And as that revival is brewing, there is a group of religious leaders who are growing in envy and jealousy over the Lord Jesus Christ. never mind he's testifying to all the things you have read in the old testament for the fact that his ministry is blowing up their eyes are full of jandis and their hearts are full of envy and they hate the lord jesus they want to get rid of him because envy is a dangerous sin it gets into the host of the heart in which it lives and it darkens their heart and it colors their mind it was it was me on a flight heading to cape town with my friend preston perry who leaned over to me across Across the aisle, he said to me, your bro, if the devil could find a jealous heart, he can make a slanderous mouth. And that's what we see right now, all in our society, man, slanderous mouths, always critiquing, always tearing somebody down, always got something negative to say about another person's ministry. No, there's nothing wrong with that person.

For some of us, their hearts are full of evil, and their hearts are full of slander and jealousy. And because their hearts is gripped by jealousy, their mouths has connected to the heart. Now the devil using their mouth for slander. This is the Pharisees. This is the Sadducees. This is the leaders of the Lord. Their mouths full of slander against the Lord Jesus Christ. Their hearts full of envy and jealousy and wickedness.

They see Christ blowing up in his ministry. They can't take that. Instead of joining the revolution, they try to go against something. They cannot stop in the flesh. So they make a decision amongst. themselves. We cannot share the spotlight with the Lord Jesus Christ. He must die, which brings me pain when I read that in a text to think men who call themselves men of God. Men of God would hate someone so much that not even just talking about them is not enough, but you actually

hate somebody so much. You want another minister to be put to death. Man, God is not in you, and the spirit of the Lord is not in you, but this is the religious leaders of the nation. of Israel. The Lord comes down to the end of his life. He rolls into the city of Jerusalem to shouts of Hosanna. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the most high God. He is hailed as king. Before the week is over, he'll find himself in a garden praying, knowing that he's coming down to the final hours of his life at his Thursday night in the distance. He sees his betrayer, Judas coming with a mob of Roman soldiers. They handcuff him and arrest him Judas flees. The people closest to him flee.

Now the Lord is left by itself. And from Thursday night to Friday morning, those Jewish leaders put Jesus through six illegal trials. They are cowards. They can't try him by day. Legally, they try him by night. By the time the sun comes up at 6 a.m. in Israel, they have come to their sentence.

Death is what they want for the Lord Jesus Christ. But they do not have the execution power of Rome. So they have to bring Jesus. to a man named Pontius Pilate, who was the governor of Judea between AD 26 and 36. It is to him. Now Jesus goes to stand the Roman trial. Last week, we read the beginning of that trial. Today, we read how the trial ended in the first century AD.

Matthew reflecting on his time because he himself was a coward at the moment fled. He goes back in reflection on the trial. He says in verse 27, verse 1, after 27, when the morning came and all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death, and they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to pilot the governor. Then verse 11, we see the beginning of the Roman trial. Now Jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him a question, are you the king of the Jews, the charge that was laid against him as a threat against Caesar? Jesus said to him,

you have said so. But when he was accused by the chief priest and the elders, he gave no answer because you have to know when to be silent and when to speak. Only a fool says everything that's in their heart. Then Pilate said to him, do you not hear how many things they testify against you? Pilate now is realizing that something is special about Jesus. He gets riszed up by Jesus. He has now a many affection for Jesus. He's trying to defend the Lord in the trial. Verse 14, but he gave him no answer, not even a single charge so that the governor was greatly amazed. Now, Pilot now is in a jam. It is the first century AD. Pilot is an unpopular governor. He has also been reprimanded by his own boss, Tiberius Caesar.

Pilot now is in a serious jam. There is an uproar right outside his door in the courts where they're creaming for the Lord Jesus Christ. innocent man inside of his house, the Lord Jesus Christ. Pilot, who's on Poplar now, is between a wall. His back is up against a wall. He's in a rock and a hard place. He's in a difficult place right now. He knows he just can't let Jesus go because the people are out there so he feels. And at the same time, the Cyrus and the elders are calling for his death.

He knows that something is different about this man. He sense, why is this man not defending himself? He sensed that he is innocent. Pilate last week who says, I find no fault in him. Pilot does not want to try Jesus. He does not want to sentence a innocent man to death. So he tries to pass him off to a toy king named Herod. Jesus goes before Herod for another trial. He says nothing because Herod does not matter in the grand scheme. He sent back to Pilate and now Pilot is in a real jam. Pilot now is stuck. And now Pilate would defer to his last option.

he's now getting ready to play his last card. It's like for those of you who play spades and you keep that joker in your back pocket. And I'm talking about the black and white joker, not the color one where you know for a fact you're going to win. Pilot now has that black and white joker in his back pocket. He knows he has one more option to get out of sentencing an innocent man to death. It is his last option. And now Pilot in the second half of the trial will play his final. final card, but the hopes that he can escape sentencing a innocent man.

Verse 15. Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner in the cell whose name was called Barabbas. So Pilate now remembers this is happening during the feast of Passover. the most famous feast in Israel. The city is packed with thousands of people. Pilate knows that during his feast, there is a custom in which every year as a goodwill from Rome to the Jews, they would release one prisoner who was bound. This would be a win-win for Rome and for Israel.

For in the fact, it will buy favor and equity with the nation of Israel. But if somebody was sitting in prison and they was innocent, this is the opportunity to be let free. this is an opportunity for justice. And Pilate knows there's somebody sitting in his cell who is so notorious a criminal that maybe if I bring this person out and stand this person up next to Jesus, maybe they would choose Jesus to let him go

and I can wash my hands of the whole matter. So he goes into the prison and he finds the worst person in that basement. He finds a man named Barabbas. Bar Abba. It's his name in Greek, which means son of the father. So now you have two sons on trial. You have a son of the father on trial, Barabbas, and a son of the father on trial, Jesus.

One is the son of a heavenly king. A heavenly father. The other one is the son of an earthly father. But now you have a son of the father on trial and a son of the father on trial. Barabbas, baraba, son of the father. In those days, rabbis was called father. so maybe Barabbas is a wayward child. Maybe Barabbas was that child who strayed far away from his parents,

and now he's out there in the street whiling out. We don't know, but for whatever reason he's called Son of the Father. That's what his name means, and maybe he's far out there away from his family. According to the scriptures, Barabbas is sitting in prison for three charges. He's sitting in prison for being a thief. He's sitting in prison for being a murderer, and he's sitting in prison for being an insurrection. Josephus tells us the historian that just long before this, Barabbas was involved in leading and helping to lead a rebellion against Rome.

And in that rebellion, many people died in that rebellion. So he was seen as dangerous. He was seen as depraved. He was seen as a man that does not deserve freedom. And before you judge him for his charges, there are thousands of Barabbas is listening to me right now. men and women that don't deserve freedom. So Pilate pulls Barabbas out. He's going to stand him up next to Jesus,

one on his left, one of his right, with the hopes that the people will choose which one they want to set free. Pilot is betting on that these people have enough common sense to set free the right person. Verse 17. So when they gathered, Pilate said to them, who do you want me to release to you?

Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ. So here is Pilate. Barabbas on the left. Jesus on the right. He looks at the people and says, which one do you want me to let go? This dangerous, murderous, thieving criminal who is a menace to your society

or this man, Jesus, who is called Christ. Now, you were thinking this moment that people have enough common sense. to make the right choice. Surely they're not going to release a man that is a menace of society. Surely they would see this man Jesus who gave birth to a revival in their nation.

And surely they would have enough discernment to choose the right one out of the two. Surely they would. But man, some of them was just as inept and depraved that some of us in our generation who don't have enough discernment to know the difference between a real shepherd and a fake one.

Enough discernment to know the difference between a real prophet and a fake one, a real church and a fake one, a real ministry, and a fake one. That's why it breaks my heart every week to see you thumb in fake ministries and thumbing false prophets and liking and going to their conferences and buying their books because we don't have no discernment. Listen into the doctrine of demons being preached from pulpits and you run around those gatherings saying preach, preacher, when you're listening to heresy being preached eloquently. This is why I keep encouraging you a billion times.

to read the scriptures for yourself. Read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read. Because the more truth you have in you, the easier it is to discern a lie. It's because of our biblical illiteracy in this generation, why so many of us are being abused by false prophets every week. And then we depend on them because you feel like you can't hear from God for yourself. Let me tell you what false prophets do. They attach you to themselves and they make a God out of themselves and they think you can't have a relationship with God apart from them.

That you need to be reminded that you can pray and talk to the Father anytime you want to. And you can open the scriptures and hear his voice. Anytime you want to. This ain't about PAM. This is about the Lord Jesus Christ. False prophet talk to you like this. No, a false prophet would never encourage you to go get truth. They want you to depend on their revelation all the time.

Don't read the Bible. but don't even open it. Just trust what I say is in there. Always preaching, no scriptures. Always got conferences, no scriptures. Always got books, no scriptures. Always got something to say. No scriptures. I want to raise up a body of people around the globe that have fidelity to the word of God,

that they love the scriptures so much. Because in them, they testify of the man you call Lord and Savior. Certainly, they will know the difference between Jesus and Barabbas, right? certainly they'll have enough discernment to make the right decision but how could you have discernment when you don't pray right and if you're going to have discernment you got to have a prayer life the more you pray the stronger your discernment get so you come into a room and you say it's not right you shake somebody's hand you say it's not right you hear some teaching you say it's not right you read a book you say it's not right that comes from an overflow of intimacy with Christ

and filling yourself with the word of God verse 18 now I want you to notice this watch notice when when when when Pilate says which one you want to release Barabbas or Jesus he says who is called Christ he didn't just say choose between

Barabbas and Jesus he said which one you want Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ he's talking to Jews the word Christ means the anointed one he's laying it on real thick hoping that these Jews will remember

It was y'all who'd been looking for an anointed one for thousands of years. It was y'all who've been believing for a Messiah. Y'all should know that this man right here fulfilled all of the Old Testament scriptures. Y'all should know his story. You should know he was born in Bethlehem, check. You should have known he was born of a virgin check. You should have known he performed miracles check. Y'all should know that he was the Messiah.

Pilate is like giving him this extra nudge. Y'all should know who he is. I mean, if you don't have enough discernment to make the right decision, shoot, I'm telling you he's the one called Christ. Why is Pilate? Why is Pilate laying it on real thick? You know why he's laying it on real thick? Because of verse 18.

For Pilate knew that it was out of envy that they had to live in a mother God. It's in a jam. He knows that these trial by these Jewish leaders. He knows it's a sham, a farce, fake. So he's hoping, banking on these like, come on, you crazy Jews. This man is called to Christ. Come on, get me out of this. Select Jesus.

Don't you have enough discernment? You don't want this crazy maniac back in your society. This man is called Christ, and Pilate knows in his heart. Either he knew about Jesus or during the trial, he fell in love with some type of affection. At some point in time, either he heard about him or his heart was warm towards him. It just reminds us that no heart is safe from Christ. Ooh, Jesus.

No heart is safe from Christ. Even his pagan governor feels something in his heart for the Lord. Something inside him is burning for the Lord. He's making every attempt he can to get the Lord off. Verse 19. Besides, while he was sitting, oh my gosh. Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat. Watch.

His wife sent him a text. A word saying, babe, boo. Quotation marks. Have nothing to do with this righteous man. for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream. Pete the scene. Pilot is sitting on the judgment seat. The people are getting ready to choose between Barabbas or Jesus.

They said nothing yet. And all of a sudden the trial is interrupted by his wife. Her name is Claudia. She sends him a message. Boo? Babe. I had a dream. And in the dream, I saw this man you bought the sentence.

He is a righteous man. No, I feel fire. This is so powerful to me. Watch, because where is Jesus' friends? Peter's gone. Watch. The disciples are gone. Everybody that should be making a defense for Christ is gone.

But the Lord, the Father, wanted to keep in the record of the trial, raised up a pagan woman. To make sure somebody made a defense. defense for Jesus. So while the people who were supposed to be defending him were gone, the Lord divinely downloaded into the heart of a pagan woman that this man, watch, is a righteous man so that. It will always be in the record of the court case that this man watch was holy, pure, blameless, and righteous watch. And I just point that out to you in the text

because I just want you to know, even when people who are, who she'll fight for you do not. The Lord has a way of vindicating you. You don't got to be fighting in comments all the time. There's a time to fight, and there's a time to let God fight for you. And here is the father defending his son. Through a dream by a pagan woman. Hallelujah.

Come on, my sister. Hallelujah. The Lord was sent help from you from the least likely places. That's why you can't box him in. You try to box him into the front door He'll come through the back door You lose your job He'll provide for you another way

Somebody betray you He'll raise up another friend Man who am I talking to I'm telling you the Lord knows how to move on your behalf Come on man Let Jesus go out like that Somebody said this man is righteous I'm going to spend this whole sermon

Exalting the person of Christ Because he's righteous blameless and pure. Let the record show our innocent man died for you and I. No spot, no blemish found in him. Now watch verse 20. Now the chief priest and the elders, watch this word, persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. Stop. Now watch. Watch the scene. Pilot asked him, which one do you want? Before the people could respond, he gets interrupted. Now watch. While he's dealing with that letter, here comes the chief elders. They're in the ears of the people. Ask for Barabbas. As for Barabbas. He's distracted with the message. Oh, gosh. As for Barabbas. Watch, watch, watch. He's distracted with the message. As for Barabbas.

Remember, they didn't respond yet. Ask for Barabbas. As for Barabbas. I said you've got to be careful who you listen to and careful what podcasts you listen to and what preachers you listen to because some of us be let her stray. because we got the wrong people in our air. Every whisper is not a godly whisper. And every podcast is not a godly podcast. And every platform is not a godly platform. That's why you got to be careful who you let into your air. You get in there and they get in your soul. And that's why too many people being let us straight by false doctrines

because they listen to false teachers and false friends. Now you think to myself, well, Lord, why would you let the governor be distracted while they're forming a coup against your son. Watch. Because the father knows the son must die. So not even give the people an idea to think to choose Jesus. If they choose Jesus, he goes free. But the father knows that the son cannot go free.

So he engineers a divine interruption. Just enough time for them men to stir up the crowd against the son because the son must be convicted. So how is the father working against the son? No, the father is working in the best interest of his will. I only point this out in your text so you can see. Because watch, all things right now are working for the good of the Lord. Watch.

The persecution against Christ is sovereign. The interruption is sovereign. The people being stirred up against them is sovereign. All of it is sovereign. That you will learn this later in the book of Romans when Paul says, all things, not just good things, not just things that make you feel good. All things, good things and bad things. They work together.

For the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purpose, even the things that make you cry, the betrayals you went through, the divorce you suffered, the Lord is working through all of it, the job you lost, the things that brought tears to your eyes. If you are in the center of God's will, he is working all of it, all of it for your good. this is how the informed Christian goes through this life goes through persecution and comes out on the other side

goes through trial and come out on the other side goes through hardship and comes out on the other side knowing that all these things are working together all of it even the hell of year I had last year the most warfare fear and attacks ever.

But they pushed me to the point of wanting to quit the ministry. And what God formed in me is strength and confidence in him. The one who counted me worthy to suffer for his name. Even that too is working for our good. Somebody giving praise in this place right now. This is how you let the devil rob you of your testimony. You'll be busted and broken in the basement of your soul contemplating suicide but hanging on to a thread And we refuse to give the devil glory to say even when I'm going through right now the Lord someway somehow

He will get glory out of me for this some way somehow he's going to get glory We will not let Satan get an ounce of glory Not even an inch even an inch. So you start talking like this. Yeah, I went through that. Watch. But this is what I learned. That's how you robbed the devil of glory. Yeah, I lost that, but this is what I learned.

I made that mistake, but this is what I learned. I lost that friend, but this is what I learned. I suffered that betrayal, but this is what I learned. All things, all things. The Lord engineered the interruption. The Lord allowed

enough time for them to stir up the people. The Lord gave the dream. to Claudia because he knows his son cannot walk free right now. If he walks free, you and I are in trouble today. His son must suffer injustice so that you and I can receive justice. You're only justified because of the injustice the son suffered for you and I. Verse 21, the governor again said to them, which one of the two do you want me to release to you? and they said, Barabbas.

Now they answer. Everybody, look. Now these unsuspecting people, hearts have been corrupted by bad spiritual leaders. I feel sorry for some believers. Sometimes it's not really your fault, except you don't have the courage to get out of that whack, God-forsaken Iqabad church. You don't have enough discernment to turn off that podcast. so there's too many believers running around America, victims of toxicity in your heart because you're listening to toxic leaders who are about themselves and not about Jesus.

So if they keep exalting themselves, you're going to be full of yourself. They exalt in Christ, you get delivered from your issues. These people have been corrupted. And instead of having the discernment to say, give us the Christos, they ask for a murderer. And Pilate said to them, What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? I'm getting ready to close. Pilot asked the most important question in human history.

What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? Every human being has to answer that question. You will answer that question in this life or you will answer it in the life to come. It does not matter if you're a Christian Buddhist, Muslim, atheist, agnostic, no one escapes that question. What will you do with Christ? Watch, you got to answer it. Why? Because of what he claimed. He claimed to be the son of God. He claimed to be God. He claimed to be the way, the truth, the life. He claimed to be the narrow road. He claimed to be the only way to God since he made those claims.

and was raised, you've got to answer what you're going to do with him. You either know him now as a loving savior, or you'll meet him later as a wrathful judge. No, Revelation says he is coming back to make war. Ain't a little baby in a manger. No, the next time he comes, his eyes are like a blazing fire. He's going to tread out the wrath of God against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. What will you do with Jesus? will you reject him now or love him will you serve him now or run from him would you surrender to him

or be rebellious towards him you got to answer that question or your death will answer that question you better know what gamble you're making you don't want to gamble the wrong way and wake up on the other side and lost that bet you'll be rolling craps instead of ceiloh you got to be from new york to understand that one what i'll do with jesus who was called the christ and they said it crucifes him and Pilate said why what evil has he done but they shouted all the more let him be crucified they are depraved now they are begging for what they don't really realize watch so when pilot saw that he was gaining nothing but rather that a riot was beginning such a coward he took water and he washed his hands he tried to absolve himself of the guilt saying i am innocent of this man's blood

No, you're not. Because Pilate, you're a coward now. I know you got rizzed up. I know you was feeling Christ for a second. I know you. Pilot was touched by Jesus that trial. He knew something was different about Jesus. That trial. Watch. And Pilot had the ability to acquit him. But because of the pressure from the people, he capitulated to compromise. Listen to me carefully. I'm almost done. This is why you have to be men and women of convictions. Hear me. When you grow in convictions, all your decisions are already made. But when you are a person of compromise, you flirt with things that will get you in trouble. You flirt with things that get you in trouble when you're a person of compromise. You flirting in the cubicle. You flirting with this business deal. You flirting with this. You flirting with that. When you're a person of compromise, you can't stand.

So you flirt with things and it gets you in trouble. When you're a person of conviction, you stand. If Pilate had conviction, he would have watched. Not capitulated to the pressure of the people, knowing it's an innocent man he would have acquitted. him. Pilot didn't do that because as a people pleaser, he capitulates. Now watch, Pilot did not escape. He may have washed his hands and said, I don't know, I'm innocent. Just a few years after this trial, Pilate was removed from his office. He was sentenced in exile to what is modern day France. And because of the guilt on his conscience, he committed suicide. Just like Judas,

who betrayed Christ, committed suicide. So Pilate may have escaped in the moment, but he did not escape what he did. It's what suicidal thoughts are. I've been there. It's this like self-inflicted justice. Pilot wrestle with that maybe for years. He loses his job. He's in exile. He takes his life. He's separated from God for all eternity now when he could have just did the right thing. The time to do the right thing is the time you have to do the right thing. It's now. The time to surrender your life to Christ is now. And all the people answered him and says, Nah, we don't want him.

Watch what they do. His blood be on us and on our children. These people are so depraved. They curse themselves. No, kill him. And let his blood be on us. And let his blood be on our children. These parents are so foolish.

Not only do they curse themselves. They curse their children. That's why we got to pray for people who have kids. Because when you have kids, then you're not led by God. You'll make decisions that hurt your children. And if you're a child and you have godly parents or a teenager, you need to honor your parents. If they're serving God, this is what happened. We don't have enough common sense to realize how our decisions damage our kids.

They curse themselves and they curse their children. And they too did not escape for 40 years after this trial. History tells us Titus the Roman emperor rose into Rome, destroys the city and a thousand, a million Jews is left bloody. in the street. A lot of the same people died during that time. Pilot capitulates. The people curse themselves. Then he released Barabbas and having scourge Jesus delivered him over to be crucified. Now, I know we read right by that and you don't care. They scourge Jesus, send him to be crucified. I want to show you what scourging was since we live in 2026. I want to show you what Jesus, how he was

scourge before they sent them to the cross. Turn your attention to the screen. In the text, scourging. That is the best depiction we have of a Roman scourging. One word for you in the text. Fall more brutal for the one you call Savior. And the movie does not do the word justice. Because according to Isaiah, he was beaten to the point.

He was not recognizable. His face was not recognizable. His body was a big lump of flesh. When the prophet said, By those stripes, you were healed. Don't clap. Those are the stripes we take for granted when we live in sin. It's just a service where he's, he's savior, but he's not Lord.

Like he didn't pay a price to have a right to your life. And from there, they carried them up a hill. to be crucified. This is what Pilate did to him before he even released Barabbas. I don't even understand

how Western Christians could read what happened to the Lord and turn from the scriptures and then live any life you want after that before the cross. Then this happens with Barabbas.

Just Jesus. who called himself the life. That's what he is. That's what he brought. Barabbas, who was an insurrectionist, he was a man of rebellion. One man, a man of life. And the other man of rebellion.

And the man of rebellion, he walks out free from the courtroom that day. And the man of life is sentenced to death. And in a sense, all of us who are saved, we are Barabas. We walk out of the sentence of death. There was three crosses set up that day. Two thieves on the right and the left. And Barabbas was supposed to be in the middle, perhaps, and the Lord took his place on that cross.

The same way he took your place, the punishment that you and I deserve, he took your place like he took Barabbas' place. And if Barabbas represents rebellion and if Christ represents life, and the people had to make a choice, And symbolically, you and I are choosing the same every day. Every day you're choosing between life or rebellion, between Christ or his enemy.

And the way that we live, the way that we treat other people, the way that we serve, the way that we give, the way that we show up. We're always making a decision between Christ and rebellion, between life and rebellion. We're always making a decision. And man, God help you, I pray. And this will be more than just a sermon that something would click on the inside of you. And you will say, tomorrow I wake up. I'm going to make a daily decision to choose Christ. I'm going to choose him over sin.

I'm going to choose him over rebellion. I'm going to choose him over disobedience. I'm going to choose him over not being faithful. I'm going to keep choosing Christ. And when I make the wrong choice, by accident, I'm going to get back up, repent, and choose Christ again and again. And again, and for the rest of your days, I'm going to keep choosing Christ over this sinful relationship, this sinful practice. We're going to stop choosing our rebellion over Christ. It's my relationship.

Well, I was born this way, or I get to do this. So we're going to stop choosing our rebellion, Barabbas, over Christ. Price was too great. You know what else to say. What's your name? What's your name? Come up here and sit down on this front row. Come up here.

Y'all let her through. You sit down on that front row and we'll help you. Rhonda, you get all her information when this is over. Sit down right here, right here. Come sit right here. Don't look at her. Close your eyes. It's okay.

It's okay. It's okay. It's all right. It's all right. It's all right. we're going to help you. I promise, it's all right. Just sit down right here with the prayer team.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I don't even know what to pray. Lord, I just, dang it, man. Gosh, God, I pray. Something would shift on the inside of your people. Gosh, Lord, I pray you would ring us out from our rebellion and our hardness of heart, our wickedness and our lies and our excuses. I pray today, Lord, we would fully surrender to you that you would deepen our love for you.

I will surrender to Christ, our affection for Christ. And we would adore him and we would be in all and stop it in this room. Do it in the overflow. Do it across the camera. Do it across America and the world. God, we need the sons and daughters to rise up in this hour, Lord. we need revival in the hearts of your bride.

I beg of you, Lord, and the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our soon-coming king, the Lord. Christ. Our God and I will save you. Our best friend, our strong tower, and our deliverer. I will hide it and our deliverer. Our waymaker and I will provide her. In his name, I pray.