Guilty, But Set Free

Our prayer is that for those of you who don’t yet have a relationship with Jesus Christ, that before you leave this place today, you may be compelled to put your trust in Him and accept Him as your Lord and Savior.

But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.

For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth;

Opening

There is a common trait that we all share. Whether we want to admit it or not, this trait manifests itself regularly in all of our lives. It is the trait called being guilty. Yes my brothers and sisters we all at some point in time have been guilty of something. This is the point in the service already where somebody says, “I don’t know what he’s talking about because I have not been prosecuted, locked up, or accused of anything so therefore I have not done anything wrong, hence I am not nor ever been guilty. If that happens to be your thinking then I will submit to you Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”.

In other words we are all guilty of sin. The problem is that we have somehow constructed our minds to identify other peoples stuff instead of our own. They did this and they did that, but never do we get to the point of identifying our own mess.

In a world of TMZ, CNN, and the National Enquirer we now have easier access to see when other people have messed up. So we began to form opinions and cast stones based upon what we think we know about the situation.

We cast stones because somehow in our minds what somebody else has done, is much more despicable than the thing I have done in my life.

Like Jesus told the scribes and Pharisee’s about the woman caught in adultery, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone”

Now I recognize there is so much going on in our world today. We see the news stories of police brutality, violence, and all kind of wickedness and it appears that that wicked are getting away with all types of terrible crimes.

It makes you feel some type of way on the inside when it appears someone we know for sure is guilty, but gets away with whatever it is they have done.

There have been a lot of high profile cases that have caught our attention over the years.

George Zimmerman – Trayvon Martin Case

Casey Anthony

And who could forget OJ and the trial of the century

All of which in the eye of public opinion they were guilty, but set free

I. The Life

7 And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection.

Insurrection - an act or instance of rising in revolt, rebellion, or resistance against civil authority or an established government.

Barabbas was a convicted criminal. He was labeled as a thug and a low life. He lived a life in which he felt like he could do any and everything he was big and bad enough to do.

Barabbas led a revolt against the Roman government. He did not respect authority and in the act of insurrection Barabbas convicted murderer. He was the type of person that struck fear in everybody he encountered. If you saw him coming you went the other way.

I don’t know about you, but in a sense I can relate to Barabbas. I’ve been to some places I should not have been. I’ve done some things I should not have done. I hung around some people I didn’t have any business being with. I haven’t always done the right things, but I was about that life. Can I get a witness?

And because of his sin, he now lay bound. You’ll get it in a minute.

There are plenty of folks still bound today because they are not living the life God called them to. They would rather try to do things their own way. But Jesus said, “I am the way”

Folks who are bound in their finances. God says give me 10%. On paper you make a lot of money, but you can’t ever seem to make ends meet.

Bound by fornication, and you can’t figure out why that boyfriend still hasn’t made you his wife. God says seek ye first the kingdom of God.

Bound by hurts from the past so much that you can’t move forward to restore relationships with family. How often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Jesus said 70 x 7